08/05/2017 D.C. United v Toronto FC (7:00PM ET) REF: ALLEN CHAPMAN AR1: Kyle Atkins AR2: Eduardo Mariscal 4TH: Rubiel Vazquez VAR: Ismail Elfath Philadelphia Union v FC Dallas (7:00PM ET) REF: RICARDO SALAZAR AR1: Jeffrey Greeson AR2: Kyle Longville 4TH: Jorge Gonzalez VAR: Hilario Grajeda Montreal Impact v Orlando City (7:30PM ET) REF: KEVIN STOTT AR1: Claudiu Badea AR2: Craig Lowry 4TH: Geoff Gamble VAR: Ted Unkel Minnesota United v Seattle Sounders (8:00PM ET) REF: JOSE CARLOS RIVERO AR1: Jose Da Silva AR2: Adam Garner 4TH: Baboucarr Jallow VAR: Victor Rivas Chicago Fire v New England Revolution (8:30PM ET) REF: SILVIU PETRESCU AR1: Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho AR2: Andrew Bigelow 4TH: Juan Guzman Jr VAR: Sorin Stoica Colorado Rapids v Vancouver Whitecaps (10:00PM ET) REF: NIMA SAGHAFI AR1: Matthew Nelson AR2: Peter Balciunas 4TH: Armando Villarreal VAR: Fotis Bazakos Real Salt Lake v Houston Dynamo (10:00PM ET) REF: ROBERT SIBIGA AR1: Kathryn Nesbitt AR2: Ian Anderson 4TH: Alejandro Mariscal VAR: Timothy Ford San Jose Earthquakes v Columbus Crew (10:30PM ET) REF: ALAN KELLY AR1: Michael Kampmeinert AR2: Brian Dunn 4TH: Alex Chilowicz VAR: Jon Freemon 08/06/2017 Portland Timbers v LA Galaxy (4:00PM ET) REF: DREW FISCHER AR1: Frank Anderson AR2: Mike Rottersman 4TH: Mark Kadlecik VAR: Dave Gantar New York City v New York Red Bulls (6:00PM ET) REF: BALDOMERO TOLEDO AR1: Corey Parker AR2: Peter Manikowski 4TH: Ismail Elfath VAR: Allen Chapman Sporting Kansas City v Atlanta United (8:00PM ET) REF: CHRIS PENSO AR1: Cameron Blanchard AR2: Corey Rockwell 4TH: Sorin Stoica VAR: Juan Guzman Jr
These and some of the upcoming VAR assignments have been known in some circles for a bit, but now that they are public they can be posted here. You'll note several non-MLS officials have been selected to serve in the VAR role, based on their successes and observed skills so far in other competitions this year. Freemon, Ford and Rivas (all National Referees, all in the PRO Elite Group, which is the tier where people are most considered for promotion) will all serve as VARs in this first week. You'll see a few additional news names as the month unfolds, but the majority of VARs will be PRO officials, just like you see above.
I'm interested to see if VARs will continue to be PRO refs, or will there be a time when some VARs will be officials specializing in VAR. Possibly retired refs continuing in VAR role?
It also looks like they will travel VAR's and 4ths on the same weekend, so that one person can do two assignments. From DC to NY that's not a big deal as trains run all day. Chicago to KC might be trickier, but I guess worst case scenario they might drive. Someone noted earlier that they are not above doing that from Seattle/Orlando/Vancouver w/in five days.... but I assume if there is a travel problem with the 4th, the VAR steps into the 4th role, and they don't use VAR for a game.
Super busy week for Chapman, centering the All-Star game Wednesday, another center Saturday and a VAR Sunday. Try not to overwork him, PRO...
Interesting NON-use of the video referee in CHI-NE. Accam on Caldwell seemed like a prime candidate to review for SFP, but nothing.
There was a play at the end of the LAG PDX match that I'm curious about. https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/08/06/yellow-card-daniel-guzman-shown-yellow-card?autoplay=true Fischer awards a FK and a couple of Timbers players request 10 yards. Fischer directs then to take the kick, they ask for 10 yards, and then the player standing over the ball gets a card for time wasting. To my eye it looks like there's nowhere near 10 yards between the ball and the defenders. My question is whether or not the players are within their rights in waiting for the players to be moved back, and what you all think about the way this was handled. FWIW Fischer claims that the defenders were 10 yards from the ball.
I have questions about this, too, but you need to see the entire incident from the stoppage (and perhaps even earlier similar stoppages) to make a fair determination on what's happening. If the Timbers players indicated or acted as though they wanted a quick free kick, for example, then suddenly requested the 10 to waste time, perhaps Fischer was in his rights. As it stands, it LOOKS like a harsh card in a vacuum, but I've been in situations that look similar to this where everyone knew the attacking team was the cause of any real delay, so I won't cast judgment without more info.
I don't watch MLS very often, but it seems to me the referees never call FRD for standing over the ball, anyway.
lol slc vs atl... Kansas City keeper kicks a gk oob over his own goal line. Within the pa. Never seen such a thing outside of u little soccer, so I was glad to see penso get the restart right
I really don't understand why Fisher didn't either award a penalty for this or look to VAR. From every angle, the defender never gets a touch on the ball. I know that he was right there, but this seems to be the primary flaw in VAR - he get's to say, "nope, I got a good enough view, I don't need to review" even if VAR says, "dude, that's a PK." 894270068238012416 is not a valid tweet id
He pulls his shirt, too. The combination of the hip, shirt tug, and lack of a touch on the ball screams penalty to me.
Is it a clear and obvious error? I can certainly make a case for penalty here but I can also say that hip check is lighter contact and no foul. IMO it's a penalty but the VAR isn't there like football to say "let's take another look and see if that call was right." It's only for clear and obvious errors which I would say this is not. Also, when VAR intervenes it is an official who is trusted and when they say "dude you missed that" the feeling on the field is that it must be because it's clear and obvious. Having an ego in that moment is you saying I trust myself more than another well trained individual with multiple views and replay which simply doesn't happen.
Sigh. You're right. Clear and obvious error is the criteria. Regardless, Fisher is my least favorite PRO ref. We saw how he bungled the Gold Cup game. Often seems he can barely handle MLS.
So we ended the first week with two actual VAR interventions that changed calls, correct? You had the Dallas goal disallowed for a foul on the goalkeeper and the Galaxy goal disallowed for handling (and a caution given). Anything else? From an officiating standpoint, it would be difficult to ask for two cleaner examples of getting the call right. In that regard, VAR worked perfectly and didn't add to any controversy. PSRA and PRO should both be breathing a sigh of relief on that front. I think the biggest argument is going to be one of timing/process. The delays in both situations were pretty excessive--particularly the one in Portland where the kickoff was setup, delayed, and then Fischer had to run all the way down to the goal line to do the On-Field Review (OFR). For goal/no-goal situations, if you read the IFAB protocol, there is nothing that requires the CR to do an OFR. In these two situations, we'd be saving about a full minute each if the VAR was just allowed to tell Salazar "no goal, he kicked the goalkeeper" or Fischer, "no goal, handling 100%". There's really no need for either referee to have to look at these two situations. Penalties and SFP calls are (or at least can be) different because there are issues of in-match consistency and of the camera, perhaps, not catching something the referee is sure that he saw. So overall a good start. I'm hopeful Webb & co. will adjust the OFR process, but I doubt that will come immediately. The big test is going to be the first penalty or SFP/VC decision that results in a reversal.
In the NYCFC-NYRB match, Toledo makes the deciding penalty call definitively on a high boot. But then, he converses with the VAR for about 15 seconds and then pulls out a yellow card for the NYRB defender. It appears as though the VAR is advising on the card, but I think the VAR is taking a second look at the actual penalty call? BTW, the call was correct thru and thru. What a pity those teams have to play on such a narrow pitch. That match had no flow and 40 total fouls. I thought Toledo did a good job keeping a lid on especially with NYRB committing 25 of the 40. I do wonder, though, if the pace of the match was too much for him as I thought he quite often trailed play from a distance.
VAR aside, Fisher seems to be following the Juan Guzman track...be an exceptional referee, then get the white badge, and then sort of spiral down. I'd submit that losing his white badge actually improved Guzman's game (back to where he was before he got it), and if Fisher doesn't improve I think he runs the risk of the same thing happening. That caution to Portland is just absurd, regardless of surrounding circumstances. It is a free kick 18 yards from goal, on the attacking side. Its just comical to let the situation escalate to caution for time wasting, while allowing another player to demonstrate like that and go unpunnished, when doing a ceremonial restart costs absolutely nothing and is technically correct anyway.
The fact that this wasn't reviewed makes me far more optimistic about VAR. Do I think this was a penalty? Yes. Clear and obvious? No. Best case scenario, we only see VAR in use a few times each week...if you start seeing it every game, we get into scary territory.
The odd thing to me is the location of the on-field monitor. I know that want to keep it away from the benches, but putting it on one endline seems potentially very inconvenient. [Or is there one on each endline and I just didn't notice?] The ones that they did review were correct, but I think it will always come down to the calls that don't get reviewed but probably should be that will continue to be the talking points. The PKs that don't get called, for example. That might be the one kind of decision that takes the longest time to change in how the referees call things on the field. And the whole question of when the "attacking phase" starts will also be a work progress I think. The halftime shows of the national TV games did a pretty good job of pointing out those questions.
The VAR would always be doing the silent check to ensure the penalty was not obviously wrong. The issue of misconduct is an interesting one and there are a number of possibilities. One of them, of course, is that he was talking to someone else for help other than the VAR but having watched the match I agree it looks like it's the VAR he used, so... 1 - Toledo knew he wanted to give a caution the whole time and was checking to get the right number (15 or 55) so as to prevent mistaken identity 2 - Toledo asked the VAR to consider the possibility of SFP, which is allowed per the protocols; once that request is triggered, my understanding is that the VAR is free to recommend any misconduct, which is how you get a yellow but not a red 3 - In the normal course of checking the penalty, the VAR suggested a yellow; this path seems a little more tenuous based on how the protocols are written--it's not explicitly outlawed, but seems to undermine the spirit of the VAR not giving yellows Knowing how Toledo operates, I'd strongly suggest that #2 is what happened here. But I could be wrong.
He's Canada's #1, got a Hex match, and just went to the Gold Cup. The CSA isn't going to do this. They only have 2 of their apparent 4 slots filled as it is. Fischer (and Gantar, really) are on that list for as long as they want, barring injuries. The next crop of Canadian FIFAs (possibly Barrie and Rudolf, I'd imagine?) isn't even in MLS yet. Canada doesn't have a deep bench--I believe they have 10 male NRs (and that counts Petrescu and Gamble), so you're talking about 8 people total waiting in the wings right now. When that's the situation you're in, you don't toss your top FIFA overboard because he had a bad match at Gold Cup and may not be in the upper echelon of MLS.