The assignments for Week 26 of the 2018 Major League Soccer season: 08/22/2018 New York City v New York Red Bulls Yankee Stadium (7PM ET) REF: Ted Unkel AR1: Adam Wienckowski AR2: Brian Dunn 4TH: Chris Penso VAR: Mark Geiger 08/23/2018 Chicago Fire v Columbus Crew Toyota Park (7PM ET) REF: Armando Villarreal AR1: Adam Garner AR2: TJ Zablocki 4TH: Fotis Bazakos VAR: Robert Sibiga Houston Dynamo v FC Dallas BBVA Compass Stadium (9PM ET) REF: Allen Chapman AR1: Brian Poeschel AR2: Jeremy Kieso 4TH: Nima Saghafi VAR: Younes Marrakchi 08/24/2018 Orlando City v Atlanta United Orlando City Stadium (8PM ET) REF: Ismail Elfath AR1: Eduardo Mariscal AR2: Jose Da Silva 4TH: Sorin Stoica VAR: Caleb Mendez LA Galaxy v Los Angeles FC StubHub Center (10:30PM ET) REF: Jair Marrufo AR1: Ian Anderson AR2: Jeffrey Greeson 4TH: Joseph Dickerson VAR: Allen Chapman 08/25/2018 Philadelphia Union v New England Revolution Talen Energy Stadium (7PM ET) REF: Drew Fischer AR1: Peter Manikowski AR2: Peter Balciunas 4TH: Chico Grajeda VAR: Jorge Gonzalez Toronto FC v Montreal Impact BMO Field (8PM ET) REF: Mark Geiger AR1: Joe Fletcher AR2: Logan Brown 4TH: Dave Gantar VAR: Geoff Gamble Sporting Kansas City v Minnesota United Children’s Mercy Park (8:30PM ET) REF: Robert Sibiga AR1: Adam Wienckowski AR2: Kevin Klinger 4TH: Fotis Bazakos VAR: Kevin Terry Jr Colorado Rapids v Real Salt Lake Dick’s Sporting Goods Park (9PM ET) REF: Ted Unkel AR1: Frank Anderson AR2: Matthew Nelson 4TH: Rubiel Vazquez VAR: Armando Villarreal San Jose Earthquakes v Vancouver Whitecaps Avaya Stadium (10PM ET) REF: Baldomero Toledo AR1: Apolinar Mariscal AR2: Cameron Blanchard 4TH: Nima Saghafi VAR: Kevin Stott 08/26/2018 New York Red Bulls v D.C. United Red Bull Arena (7PM ET) REF: Dave Gantar AR1: Michael Kampmeinert AR2: Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho 4TH: Marcos DeOliveira VAR: Alex Chilowicz Portland Timbers v Seattle Sounders Providence Park (9:30PM ET) REF: Christopher Penso AR1: Jason White AR2: Corey Rockwell 4TH: Joseph Dickerson VAR: Younes Marrakchi
It must be derby week. Seems to give you a pretty good idea of who exactly PRO has in their top 10 or so.
After taking Penso's game on 8/19, this puts Unkel at 3 middles in 6 days. Have we seen that much activity from one person in the middle before?
Not that I can remember. To be honest, I was not impressed with Unkel’s game in DC this weekend. He seemed inconsistent with his calls and gave an incredibly soft second yellow to a NE player.
You mean the one where the player, already on a yellow, came in late and deliberately clipped the heels of an opponent when he had his back to goal and had clearly already released the ball? I think you watched too much of the World Cup. Why do we want to keep that player on the field? Caldwell was the only one to offer any sort of real protest and he had to spend much more time defending himself from his own teammates, who were pissed he even made that challenge.
I just didn’t think the contact really had any force whatsoever behind it. I’m a DC fan, but I think our player’s reaction to the contact is what prompted the second caution. I didn’t see a camera angle that has made me think otherwise. (So far, anyway) I’m not saying it wasn’t a foul, but the DC player embellished the contact way too much.
Put your referee hat on. You're saying a ref of Unkel's experience ignored the contact he saw and was conned by the player's reaction? Even though another experienced ref (Mass Ref) has pointed out the factors that make it a cautionable foul--factors that don't really relate so much to high force as to no force being appropriate in this context. (I haven't seen the play, but MR has never been one to rashly advocate cards--from MR's description, it sounds like a cheap shot that needs to be cautioned to discourage the behavior--which sounds supported by the reaction of the players.) As I said, I haven't seen the play, but sounds to me like you might need to recalibrate on this one.
Unkel was somewhat slow in reacting. But I believe the 4th and AR1 are the ones who helped him out on recognizing the misconduct.
Oh. That makes more sense. The only camera angle I saw was the broadcast, which was fairly far away. I guess the fact that the player came in late and possibly clipped him after the ball was gone is enough for a YC all on its own.
Wasn't uncommon to see several assignments in a row in the very early days. Less common now, and really only significant this week because of Penso's scratch last week.
Just watched the Riverhounds-Rowdies game. A PRO referee was in the center, but he looked like a Grade 6 who was out of his element. The last 8 minutes or so were very.....interesting.
The referee was Marcos DeOlivera, for reference. He’s never really made it as a consistent MLS center.
I would imagine it is because his foul recognition is a little shaky. His man management definitely needs a lot of work as well.
Maybe...but I like his style. Maybe more effective in MLS than in Pittsburgh. I will say this though, I think either DC or NY would take him in the middle over Gantar... In fact, wasn't it Gantar who blew his whistle as the ball was crossing the goal line on a DC/NY game a few years ago? I agree that this assignment is crazy, and DeOliviera will have a front row seat. Apologies to @ManiacalClown but there is no way this is a "prove you belong" assignment. Gantar has been around way to long for that.
I got nothing. Clearly handled by Cleveland outside the area. How could that not be an obvious goal scoring opportunity?
Because there were 4 Chicago defenders between the foul and the goal. Brings one of the Ds into doubt so it's not a clear and obvious error to not send him off. That's fair.
Zlatan definitely had a hand to Lee Nguyen's face based on the video I saw on Twitter somewhere. Unfortunately, it was filmed in Zapruder Vision.