The assignments for Week 5 of the 2018 Major League Soccer season: 03/30/2018 Toronto FC v Real Salt Lake BMO Field (8PM ET) REF: ALLEN CHAPMAN AR1: MATTHEW NELSON AR2: JOE FLETCHER 4TH: NIMA SAGHAFI VAR: GEOFF GAMBLE 03/31/2018 Orlando City v New York Red Bulls Orlando City Stadium (1PM ET) REF: JAIR MARRUFO AR1: KYLE ATKINS AR2: CAMERON BLANCHARD 4TH: MARCOS DEOLIVEIRA VAR: TIMOTHY FORD Columbus Crew v Vancouver Whitecaps MAPFRE Stadium (3PM ET) REF: JOSE CARLOS RIVERO AR1: COREY PARKER AR2: ADAM WIENCKOWSKI 4TH: HILARIO GRAJEDA VAR: RAMY TOUCHAN LA Galaxy v Los Angeles FC StubHub Center (3PM ET) REF: MARK GEIGER AR1: FRANK ANDERSON AR2: JEFFREY HOSKING 4TH: DANIEL RADFORD VAR: KEVIN STOTT Chicago Fire v Portland Timbers Toyota Park (6PM ET) REF: DREW FISCHER AR1: COREY ROCKWELL AR2: JEREMY KIESO 4TH: RUBIEL VAZQUEZ VAR: ALAN KELLY Minnesota United v Atlanta United TCF Bank Stadium (8PM ET) REF: CHRISTOPHER PENSO AR1: BRIAN DUNN AR2: NICK URANGA 4TH: NIMA SAGHAFI VAR: SILVIU PETRESCU San Jose Earthquakes v New York City FC Avaya Stadium (8PM ET) REF: ARMANDO VILLARREAL AR1: IAN ANDERSON AR2: BRIAN POESCHEL 4TH: ALEJANDRO MARISCAL VAR: YOUNES MARRAKCHI Houston Dynamo v New England Revolution BBVA Compass Stadium (8:30PM ET) REF: SORIN STOICA AR1: ADAM GARNER AR2: JASON WHITE 4TH: GUIDO GONZALES JR VAR: RICARDO SALAZAR Sporting Kansas City v D.C. United Children’s Mercy Park (8:30PM ET) REF: BALDOMERO TOLEDO AR1: APOLINAR MARISCAL AR2: PETER MANIKOWSKI 4TH: TED UNKEL VAR: JORGE GONZALEZ Colorado Rapids v Philadephia Union Dick’s Sporting Goods Park (9PM ET) REF: ROBERT SIBIGA AR1: ERIC WEISBROD AR2: JEFFREY GREESON 4TH: FOTIS BAZAKOS VAR: KEVIN TERRY JR Seattle Sounders v Montreal Impact CenturyLink Field (10PM ET) REF: ISMAIL ELFATH AR1: KATHRYN NESBITT AR2: JEREMY HANSON 4TH: DAVID GANTAR VAR: EDVIN JURISEVIC
A couple of the referees who hadn't cleared fitness did so several days ago, and will be seen starting in Week 8. Several other referees either failed a re-take or have not yet attempted a re-take. So a couple familiar on-field names are going to remain in the VAR role for the foreseeable future.
Game counts for this week's referees and assistant referees: TOR vs RSL: A Chapman - 112th [M Nelson - 91st, J Fletcher - 92nd] ORL vs NYR: J Marrufo - 225th [K Atkins - 53rd, Blanchard - 43rd] CLB vs VAN: J C Rivero - 94th [Parker - 138th, Wienckowski - 192nd] LAG vs LAFC: M Geiger - 176th [F Anderson - 201st, J Hosking - 122nd] CHI vs POR: D Fischer - 83rd [C Rockwell - 228th, J Kieso - 2nd] MIN vs ATL: C Penso - 126th [B Dunn - 96th, N Uranga - 25th] SJ vs NYC: A Villarreal - 93rd [I Anderson - 184th, B Poeschel - 122nd] HOU vs NE: S Stoica - 73rd [A Garner - 140th, J White - 61st] SKC vs DC: B Toledo - 247th [Ap Mariscal - 46th, P Manikowski - 183rd] COL vs PHI: R Sibiga - 50th [E Weisbrod - 64th, J Greeson - 36th] SEA vs MTL: I Elfath - 107th [K Nesbitt - 36th, J Hanson - 100th]
That's a fair estimate to any MLS game no? LoL I'd be impressed if you could give how many per a team
Help me out. The only notable things I see this week is that Kieso has his first like this year after having a trial spot last year and Marrackhi is now certified as a VAR, when I don’t think he previously was. Neither seems too important, though.
Check the 4th assignments again. One of your predictions came true (even though I already knew it had when you said it a few weeks ago).
I must be seeing things. It looked like a Toronto player kicked at a RSL player while the RSL player was on the ground next to the goal. Happened in the 55th minute.
I agree, and it looked (one the one replay they showed), like the RSL player also did a bit of a kickout as they went over the goal line beside the post. There were a few things in that game that I felt Chapman missed (going both ways), but that was the most egregious of the bunch. Also, the first penalty? The angles shown were all terrible. It's impossible to tell from any of those angles if the ball struck shoulder or arm, but I lean toward a shoulder strike based on what was shown.
Couldn’t agree more. The first penalty was impossible to tell. On another note, I find it amusing how much Jozy Altidore embellishes contact when he is always the biggest player on the field.
Remember that 55:xx is the 56th minute. I went looking on MLS Live in the 54:xx range when you wrote this, so just a friendly reminder for your reporting. Right. So what do people want the referee to do there? We're either talking two red cards or nothing. You thought an incident where it looks like two slight kick outs and then both players go on their way is "egregious?" You guys got to spell this out. Do you want Chapman stopping the game and sending off two players for this? Do you want him to send off only the Toronto player? What's the proper call here in your eyes? Also, I thought both penalty calls were fantastic. The handling is exactly what is being taught now in the penalty area. The hand came down on the slide tackle, took away space--the passing lane, in fact--and there seems no doubt that the ball upper arm, even if it got part of the shoulder. On the second one, the defender is doing nothing but play the man. While I am somewhat sympathetic to this point, remember also that if he doesn't go down, he often doesn't get the penalty. Referees don't like to admit it (though Clattenburg did this season on television) but it's a reality. So Altidore will often get punished for his size if he fights through a clear foul. Some of his embellishment is over-the-top, but at the same time defenders think they can do things like they did last night with the second penalty and get away with it, precisely because they do just enough to inconvenience Altidore rather than bring him fully down. So it cuts both ways.
In my eyes, the RSL player should have gotten a red because the first kick out was pretty forceful and he kicked out AGAIN a few seconds later. The TFC player’s “kick” had so little force behind it that I think it should have been a YC for him. The first penalty was hard to see, but I was leaning toward a penalty. I once watched a video where former FIFA referee Esse Barmahast (Sry if I got the name wrong) was instructing U.S. referees on how to deal with this situation. He said that when a defender goes into a slide with his arm bracing himself against the ground, and the ball hits it, to award the penalty because the defender knew the risk he was taking.
Completely missed an obvious offside on the Galaxy winner. Or does Zlatan handle all reviews of Zlatan?
I've got onside. His foot or right knee cap is going to be the closest thing to the goal line. Unlike England, MLS VARs don't get the lines on the screen.
One word I definitely wouldn't use to describe that situation would be "obvious." At most, Ibrahimovic was offside by less than a foot, but despite offside being a (relatively) objective call, this certainly would not pass the "clear and obvious" test. I tend to give the VAR the benefit of the doubt in situations like these, as they have more angles than just the ones shown on the broadcast.
The screenshot above made me realize it was a lot closer than it was. Agreed, this is probably a good non-review.
I think you were off by 6 cards. With the lone card I seeing as purely procedural. From a pure specatator standpoint that LAFC v. galaxy match has been one of the most entertaining MLS games I have seen. The match had very little misconduct. I can see this reverse fixture being a certain derby match.
Haha yeah you’re right. I thought it would be a very dirty match but I’m glad I was wrong. That was a fantastic match.