The assignments for Week 26 of the 2017 MLS season: 02/09/2017 Montreal Impact v Chicago Fire Saputo Stadium (7:00PM ET) REF: BALDOMERO TOLEDO AR1: Gianni Facchini AR2: Andrew Bigelow 4TH: Fotis Bazakos VAR: Chris Penso New England Revolution v Orlando City Gillette Stadium (7:00PM ET) REF: ROBERT SIBIGA AR1: Corey Parker AR2: Gjovalin Bori 4TH: Sorin Stoica VAR: Mark Geiger FC Dallas v New York Red Bulls Toyota Stadium (9:00PM ET) REF: KEVIN STOTT AR1: Jose Da Silva AR2: Danny Thornberry 4TH: Nima Saghafi VAR: Dave Gantar LA Galaxy v Colorado Rapids StubHub Center (11:00PM ET) REF: JAIR MARRUFO AR1: Mike Kampmeinert AR2: Felisha Mariscal 4TH: Daniel Radford VAR: Jon Freemon http://proreferees.com/2017/08/29/mls-assignments-week-26/
Bori is a former Albanian FIFA AR who is getting his first look in MLS. Geiger does his VAR assignment Saturday night and then heads to San Jose for his qualifier on Tuesday.
He was on a short list in Albania but didn't actually get his FIFA badge. He decided to move to US instead.
Thanks for the correction. He was doing youth UEFA-level events up through 2014, so I assumed he was a FIFA. But the only photo I can find has him wearing his federation badge, so it looks like you're right.
I worked a USL match earlier this year with a referee from Albania. He was a former FIFA referee who had recently moved to the US.
Why are all these high level officials from other countries coming to the US? It is taking opportunities away from young, up and coming, Americans.
My "and?" question was designed to ask if you worked with Bori or not. I kind of doubt you worked with a different Albanian, but wanted to check. Presumably your USL assignment is readily available and you could just check your schedule to see the name, since you appear not remember. If it was Bori, clearly he told you (or you presumed) something different about his FIFA status than mrref knows or has been told. But you went in an entirely different and disappointing direction. I don't think "all these high level officials" are coming from other countries. We've got Kelly as an MLS referee, Jallow as a 4th, Karlsson looking at a VAR spot, and Bori being trialed as an AR. Herrera was in the league for a moment but went to work for CONCACAF. That's it, unless I'm mistaken. Of those five, exactly one (Kelly) was recruited and came over to the US to referee. The other four (someone correct me if I'm wrong) moved here for other reasons. You want them to stop refereeing when they get to the United States? How very welcoming. If PRO pursued a policy of recruiting international officials to move to the US or Canada so that they can be hired directly by PRO, I'd be right there with you screaming about the unfairness (and the harm it would do on referee development in the country). But that's not what this is. At all. This is a guy who moved to America who happens to also referee. PRO didn't recruit an Albanian AR to move here.
There is an exFIFA referee from Albania who moved to US and decided to hang it up. He was then given few games in US at USL level and apparently he did quite well considering his experience from the old country. I don't remember his name but I'm sure it's easy to find out.
Obviously this question and debate can off as xenophobic, but I think there is a debate of whether some of these guys are skipping the line way too fast and quickly ahead of guys who have been in the US system since they were grade 8s. I think the issue that he could be making and one that I'm kind of making is some of these guys come here and are pretty much fast tracked straight to MLS because they did some professional and lower division games in Europe. I'm not saying that these guys shouldn't get a chance. I think they should be paying some kind of dues to an extent like the rest of us. Not saying that they should go through the upgrade process from 8 to National, but in a year or two like others. It's one thing like Kelly and Herrera who were FIFA referees in their countries and, in Kelly's case did UEFA CL matches. Herrera refereed at a higher level than MLS and Kelly maybe did if you count his UEFA international assignments. They, obviously, didn't need to be going through the lower levels. From their performances, they were MLS ready to begin with. In Jallow's case, he had to pay his dues and go through the upgrade process to get into MLS. Some of these other guys are not paying their dues or putting in the time all because they did some lower division matches in Europe. They are pretty much getting a red carpet to MLS all because they have "professional experience" in low quality and low level European leagues. I've looked up Karlsson and it seems he has only down lower level professional games if that in Sweden and he's getting MLS 4ths and VAR faster than anyone. Is his experience and level that much better than all of the other guys who been trying to climb the ladder and get into PRO? I looked up Bori and it seems he started to referee here in 2016. He has done a combination of 15 USL, NWSL and NASL lines. Maybe he's really good and way better than any AR trying to get into MLS. I, personally, don't feel that he deserves to get a trial spot after less than a year of doing USL lines. How many ARs have there been doing USL, NWLS and Open Cup lines for several seasons and are still not getting a try out in MLS? IS it fair? All of these questions are kind of fair. I think if any national level or even MLS level referee moves to Europe, they are not getting to that countries first division as quickly as the guys that come here. If a national referee moves to Albania (highly unlikely) is he getting in the Albanian first division in the same amount of time as here? If somebody moves to Scotland or Ireland are they in that countries highest level as quickly as some of the guys that come here? I think it is a valid and fair debate. We are not talking about Serie A, La Liga, or the EPL. We are talking about leagues that are slightly better or equivalent to MLS or even lower than MLS.
Forgot to crosspost this weeks referee trivia! The record for most red cards in a single MLS match is four, and it's happened twice. What one player was sent off in BOTH games? Good luck.
Geiger fixed a mistake by Bori via VR. Toledo and Penso come up with an SFP via VR. Don't get me wrong, I'd be fine with that call in real-time. But after a few of the things we've seen skate without an upgrade, I'm very surprised this qualifies as the first "clear and obvious" SFP miss. Red might be the preferred call, but yellow was certainly defensible.
I wonder if it would be easier to understand for the players, coaches, fans, etc. if some parts of the process were more harmonized. For example, it is not required for the center to go view the monitor to watch a replay, and this can be very confusing since the call can be changed without a clear indication that VAR was involved (such as in the denied goal in the New England - Orlando game today). Following the same protocol each time would make it clear. (It also seems to confuse the referees occasionally, as in Salt Lake last week when Armando Villareal seemed . . . unsure let's call it, about whether to go to the monitor or not after VAR Victor Rivas alerted him re Colorado's denied goal being good.)
Strong disagree that yellow is defensible considering the point of contact was on the bottom of Schweinsteiger's knee. That he was eventually forced out of the game due to an apparent knee injury only makes me disagree harder.
Thanks, that is who I thought it was but I wanted to confirm, and Villareal is listed so I went with that.
It was a late switch, likely due to the hurricane since Villarreal is based, I believe, in San Antonio.
Let me clarify. Yellow was defensible based on the look Toledo had and the history of the sport. You have to really slow things down and examine the video closely to see a red card would be preferred. So in that regard, VR helps get the call right. But again the protocols are about making sure the call wasn't "clearly wrong," When you juxtapose this call against some other challenges that didn't get reviewed or didn't get upgraded, there's a disconnect for me--and, clearly, for fans (just look at the comments from neutrals on social media--this sort of stuff is not winning people over on VR). To use the most quoted example of missed SFP, this wasn't the 2010 De Jong challenge that the public said "how is that NOT red?!" Maybe last night's call means things are getting fixed and you'll see more SFP reds via VR. Or maybe this is an outlier, because Stott wasn't told to review Hayes' first yellow last night, which was in the same ballpark as the Toledo red. No way to know. But the inconsistencies inherent in a system that got tested for a year and then implemented during a playoff push are evident. And that's not a good thing if the powers that be are trying to win over the larger public fan base.