The assignments for the 2017 MLS Playoffs Conference Semifinals are: 10/29/2017 Vancouver Whitecaps v Seattle Sounders BC Place (8:30PM ET) REF: KEVIN STOTT AR1: Jeffrey Hosking AR2: Kermit Quisenberry 4TH: Ricardo Salazar VAR: Mark Geiger 10/30/2017 New York Red Bulls v Toronto FC Red Bull Arena (7:00PM ET) REF: DREW FISCHER AR1: Phil Briere AR2: Claudiu Badea 4TH: Sorin Stoica VAR: Allen Chapman Houston Dynamo v Portland Timbers BBVA Compass Stadium (9:30PM ET) REF: MARK GEIGER AR1: Joe Fletcher AR2: Mike Rottersman 4TH: Hilario Grajeda VAR: Juan Guzman 10/31/2017 Columbus Crew v New York City FC MAPFRE Stadium (8:00PM ET) REF: ALAN KELLY AR1: Matthew Nelson AR2: Brian Dunn 4TH: Ismail Elfath VAR: Chris Penso 11/02/2017 Seattle Sounders v Vancouver Whitecaps CenturyLink Field (10:30PM ET) REF: BALDOMERO TOLEDO AR1: Eduardo Mariscal AR2: Adam Garner 4TH: Hilario Grajeda VAR: Drew Fischer 11/05/2017 Toronto FC v New York Red Bulls BMO Field (3:00PM ET) REF: CHRISTOPHER PENSO AR1: Jeremy Hanson AR2: Eric Boria 4TH: Silviu Petrescu VAR: Ted Unkel New York City v Columbus Crew Yankee Stadium (TBD) REF: KEVIN STOTT AR1: Corey Rockwell AR2: Brian Poeschel 4TH: Armando Villarreal VAR: Allen Chapman Portland Timbers v Houston Dynamo Providence Park (TBD) REF: ISMAIL ELFATH AR1: Kathryn Nesbitt AR2: Apolinar Mariscal 4TH: Jose Carlos Rivero VAR: Edvin Jurisevic http://proreferees.com/2017/10/27/mls-assignments-playoffs-conference-semifinals/
I've been told the assignment for Houston-Portland are incorrect as they are a copy of the Houston-SKC game. Here is the crew I was told REF: Robert Sibiga AR1: Jeff Muschik AR2: Jason White 4TH: Fotis Bazakos VAR: Chris Penso
The fact that there are two Canadian teams in the playoffs pretty much dictate that a Canadian referee has to be on one of their four games. If Toronto or Vancouver or both make the MLS Cup Final don't be surprised if Fischer is the 4th on the Final or one of the Canadian ARs (probably Fletcher) is on the match as well.
Kevin with two semi-final assignments. That's interesting. Also, I think Fotis should be the 4th in NY, and Chapman VAR (not Penso).
There is no possible way that there was clear enough evidence to overturn the PK in the Portland/Houson game.
There looked to be one video, that of course they didn't show enough of, that showed contact with the ball first. Still, in my games it is a PK. You can't follow through rolling up the back of someone's legs like that.
I’ve given up on the “clear and obvious” standard. What was used here was “would I have called it based upon what I see in the replay.”
I didn't think it was a penalty in real time from the other side of the stadium, but a clear and obvious error? Ehhh
For me, I felt that there was more to overturn the PK in the NYRBvTFC match than there was in the HOUvPOR match... But hey, I'm not the VAR.
So a Portland player clearly kicks the ball after the whistle is blown at Damarcus Beasley who is on the ground as he was fouled. It's pretty clear and standard violent conduct. Sibiga opts to go yellow. I have no idea why other than the fact that it is a playoff game. https://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/m...namo-vs-portland-timbers/details/video/140119
At halftime, 4th Ismail Elfath takes over for Alan Kelly. ESPN reporter says that Ismail asked multiple times if Kelly was feeling ok in the first half, and that he made the decision to sub out at halftime. Edit: It also appears he is still wearing the 4th PTT headset, so he will have to push a button on his side to talk to a member of his crew
So the swap of Kelly and Elfath led to some problems with communication on the red card. I get that. Still too long of a delay, but fine. I have a different question. The VR that resulted in the red card clearly shows that the misconduct was committed before the ball was put in play. VR is supposed to ensure the correct decision is taken and the restart is accurate. Play should have restarted with an NYFC corner kick. Instead, it restarted with the initially called CLB free kick. This is the kind of sloppy, technical mistake that must get ironed out over time. And I’d argue pretty strongly that a longer experimental phase was the time to iron out such issues.
Thoughts on the Callens red? I thought it was a good call but some NYC fans think no contact was made to head and should have been a yellow.
I had this debate with a referee off-site. Is this a generational or regional thing? I know they were leggings (or "tights"). They are still a garment that covers each of his legs completely, from his waist to ankles. In other words, pants. Anyway, it wasn't a criticism. Just an observation that it might be a first-time thing for an MLS CR. And also completely understandable. If the decision for Kelly not to continue happened after a few minutes into halftime and they didn't even have enough time to switch radios, then they definitely didn't have time for Elfath to get undressed and redressed simply to remove his pants--er, tights.
100% red. He lined him up and brought his forearm/elbow to his head. Maybe he got him with more of the forearm than the elbow, somewhat mitigating what the result otherwise could have been, but it doesn't matter. It's a deliberate strike to the head, off-the-ball, which is violent conduct. Technically, there's enough there to send him off even if he misses completely (this is one of those situations where intent can matter, because "attempt to strike" is a red card if it is done in a violent manner). In my eyes, this is one of the justifiable reasons for having VARs and VR. This is the sort of obvious red card incident that referees can't always see clearly, so video helps. Plus, the presence of VARs should help reduce such behavior over time. Specific to this incident, my issues with VAR/VR are: 1) The time it took to get this right. Part of that was clearly due to the fact the radios weren't switched, but it still took over 3 minutes on a foul that Elfath called. We aren't there yet, but we have to reach the point one day where the VAR can simply say "it's violent conduct, he has to go." That would save--if radios are working--over 2 minutes in a situation like this. 2) The restart was wrong. There's very little excuse for that, other than the fact that VR is still new and this was a particularly high-pressure situation for a number of reasons. Only practice will ensure errors like that are not made.
Do they have a little acronym checklist for VAR stoppages? Whatever that is should end with "restart"
Heck, they don't need an acronym, the VAR is sitting at a desk and can have an actual check list. My guess would be that this had already taken a long time, and that led to rushing the wrap up so the restart wasn't thought about.
I wonder if he was still "getting his legs" so to speak. Mental preparation has to be a bit different for a ref suddenly taking over the CR role with little to no warmup time (depending on when the call was made at halftime) compared to one who knows for a couple of days they have a game kicking off at X time on X date with teams A and B. Combine that with the radio snafu and pulling a red 7 minutes in and I'm sure he just wanted to move forward.
You're probably both right. But another aspect is simply that this isn't a situation where a referee would instinctively reconsider the restart. What I mean is, when VR prompts a penalty to be waved off, the CR and VAR have to start thinking about when the whistle went and then reacting accordingly because things are obviously changing and there isn't going to be a PK. If VAR pulls back a goal, same thing to an extent, because we definitely aren't having a kickoff. In this situation, the VAR and VR were used to ensure misconduct was applied correctly to an incident that Elfath saw and called. And he saw and called it correctly, save for the lack of misconduct. So when VR confirms a red card should be shown, it's not natural to re-think the restart unless Elfath had doubts right from the beginning about whether or not the ball was in play when the misconduct happened. Either he had no such doubts, or he just forgot about them over the 4 minutes that this entire episode took.