03/18/2017 New York City v Montreal Impact Yankee Stadium (2:00pm ET) REF: MARK GEIGER AR1: Kathryn Nesbitt AR2: Kevin Klinger 4TH: Robert Sibiga Atlanta United v Chicago Fire Bobby Dodd Stadium (4:00pm ET) REF: JOSE CARLOS RIVERO AR1: Corey Rockwell AR2: Eric Boria 4TH: Marcos DeOliveira Vancouver Whitecaps v Toronto FC BC Place (4:00pm ET) REF: ISMAIL ELFATH AR1: Apolinar Mariscal AR2: Mike Rottersman 4TH: Daniel Radford D.C. United v Columbus Crew RFK Stadium (7:00pm ET) REF: TED UNKEL AR1: Adam Wienckowski AR2: Andrew Bigelow 4TH: Jorge Gonzalez Orlando City v Philadelphia Union Orlando City Stadium (7:30pm ET) REF: FOTIS BAZAKOS AR1: CJ Morgante AR2: Danny Thornberry 4TH: Silviu Petrescu FC Dallas v New England Revolution Toyota Stadium (8:00pm ET) REF: ALAN KELLY AR1: Kyle Atkins AR2: Anthony Vasoli 4TH: Younes Marrakchi Sporting Kansas City v San Jose Earthquakes Children's Mercy Park (8:30pm ET) REF: JAIR MARRUFO AR1: Eduardo Mariscal AR2: Jeffrey Greeson 4TH: Chris Penso Colorado Rapids v Minnesota United Dick's Sporting Goods Park (9:00pm ET) REF: NIMA SAGHAFI AR1: Eric Weisbrod AR2: Jason White 4TH: Kevin Stott Real Salt Lake v LA Galaxy Rio Tinto Stadium (9:30pm ET) REF: SORIN STOICA AR1: Cameron Blanchard AR2: Jeff Muschik 4TH: Baboucarr Jallow Portland Timbers v Houston Dynamo Providence Park (10:30pm ET) REF: ALLEN CHAPMAN AR1: Peter Manikowski AR2: Jeffrey Hosking 4TH: Alejandro Mariscal 03/19/2017 Seattle Sounders v New York Red Bulls CenturyLink Field (7:00pm ET) REF: BALDOMERO TOLEDO AR1: Frank Anderson AR2: Gianni Facchini 4TH: Dave Gantar http://www.proreferees.com/2017-mls-regular-season-assignments---week-3.php
I know the PRO website doesn't reflect this, but I was under the impression that Saghafi would be promoted to part-time this year. I could be wrong, but either way the assignment here isn't shocking. If he still is technically a 4th official, I can almost guarantee he'll see the most middles this year of that group.
http://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/ma...ity-fc-vs-montreal-impact/details/video/98032 Geiger had a perfect view - surprised this wasn't red.
One leg, studs come down more on the top of the foot than anything. Not surprised only yellow. Birnbaum's PK foul in DC looked like a perfect example of the new DOGSO yellow. No card given.
@coreyrock Corey I very much enjoyed your spirited and energetic performance at the Atlanta United match today. I noticed you were "walking the dog." I also noticed your "no that ball did not go into touch, it was on the line" signal. I had never seen that before. Thanks for a job well done.
So... that red in Atlanta for DOGSO was on point for me. Not sure what the announcers are on about, I see this is pretty cut and dry. As for the double yellow to Shea, the first was for the cynical challenge, which I agree with, and the second came moments later after Shea said something to Elfath that made him look at Shea like he was crazy, before proceeding to pull the red out. Any ideas what might have prompted the second one? (wordwise I mean. I think it shows up in the highlight for it when it shows it the second time).
When possession is never gained, it's a pretty high standard for DOGSO in FIFA's eyes. This was close. Am interested to see if PRO weighs in on this. I believe it was yellow followed by straight red. He didn't get him for dissent--it was AL.
wow. Busy night for the referees tonight. Unkel was too busy showboating/being dramatic with his PK calls to do any cautioning or sending off. It was a very strange game. I guess the players are going to be taught the hard way that you are not allowed to touch the ball when a call goes against your team...even if you are just kicking the ball to the place where the freekick will take place.
Wow. Can't believe Davis got a red card for what might justify a foul call in the Minnesota-Colorado game. Davis has control of the ball and just barely glances Hairston with his cleat. He didn't make contact with the studs, so I see no reason for a red, much less a yellow. This decision by Saghafi is downright baffling, especially considering he isn't technically on the PRO centers list yet.
And now that I've seen it...exactly how hard is too hard when you completely miss the ball and hit your opponent's knee with your studs? Admittedly, it's a weird foul. And possibly accidental. But it also is the type of foul that ends a career. It's not cut and dry either way, but it's certainly not baffling. I'd personally go red. Moreover, the attack on Saghafi seems particularly unwarranted as I would bet the information on misconduct came from the fourth, based on the delayed whistle.
All of the above, and I'm 100% red card, personally. That's a great way to shatter someone's patella.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/03/18/red-card-justin-davis-sent-bad-challenge?autoplay=true The red card in the Colorado v. Minnesota match.
As a Rapids fan I thought it was orange but I wouldn't have been shocked by a yellow. I don't know how you consider that "might justify a foul". It's clearly card-worthy.
Don't look now, but the announcer made perfect sense on that red card. "could be yellow, could be red, and we get to look at it several times." Thats gutsy 4th involvement (from Kevin Stott?). If that was Kevin, that's two weeks in a row with great and unusual calls from him. I'm not sure another 4th would have said "red card" and I'm not sure a more senior ref would have followed that input anyway. All around well done by the crew to communicate and trust each other.
FIFA's instructions involve considering the point of contact on tackles like this, where the higher up the leg it goes, the more likely it is red. Every tackle on the foot or ankle can't be a red, or we'd be playing 8 v 8 in most pro matches. Admittedly, this is closer to SFP than many other similar tackles, and such a decision would be defensible, but I'm with Geiger here. Red isn't necessary on this tackle.
Ok. After seeing it again, it is a foul and probably a cautionable offense. But, you can also see that he hit him with the side of his cleat, not the studs. To me this is yellow, not red, because Davis is not trying to make contact, it was just reckless. Not serious foul play. If there was input from Stott to Saghafi and he saw something different (intent?) than we see from the camera angles, then excellent communication and decision from the crew.
From watching games across Europe, I think that is a clear instruction by FIFA. You almost never see a red on through ball over the top in the air. See the Suarez PK in the Barca vs. PSG game. Also, see every time an attacker is dragged down on a cross in the box. What's interesting for me in this clip is if FIFA/PRO don't view this as a red card because the attacker doesn't have possession, then can you have a red card for DOGSO on a through ball at all? Is it possible at all on a professional game? If FIFA/PRO don't view the likelihood of the attacker getting possession here, than it is not possible. For me, this is a red card. The only arguments against it, potentially, are the other defender there and maybe direction. But if this isn't a red card because the attacker didn't have possession or wasn't likely to gain possession then, to me, this would mean that defenders should just grab attackers on any through pass without the fear of red.
Has no one in PRO told him how ridiculous he looks? He almost fell down on the second penalty. I know MLS referees have had for years trouble with DOGSO and they have always had a tougher standard than European referees for what constitutes DOGSO but that was poor from Unkel. I knew there would be some learning curves with the new law, but I just don't understand how Birnbaum does not receive a yellow in that game. Did Unkel sleep through or miss the PRO preseason camp where they focused on the law changes? I would think DOGSO would have been covered extensively. He then bailed out Birnbaum again on the second PK, by not giving him a straight red. That needed to be a red because it was a push. We obviously haven't had many examples in MLS, but I fear MLS referees are just gonna be ignoring the yellow card portion and pushing and pulling portions of the new DOGSO law in the penalty area.
Looking at Romney's goal in the LA Galaxy - RSL match, I think a strong argument can be made for LA #32 blocking the GK's line of sight on the shot, thereby guilty of offside by interfering with an opponent. Based on his movement after the corner kick, it also seems like he deliberately took that position to screen the GK. Video can be found here: https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/03/19/goal-dave-romney-smashes-home-volley?autoplay=true