Games for week 6 start TONIGHT! 04/05/19 Vancouver Whitecaps vs LA Galaxy BC Place (10:00PM ET) REF: Baldomero Toledo AR1: Chris Wattam AR2: Apolinar Mariscal 4TH: Alex Chilowicz VAR: Silviu Petrescu AVAR: Joshua Patlak 04/06/19 New York City FC vs Montreal Impact Yankee Stadium (1:00PM ET) REF: Ted Unkel AR1: Adam Wienckowski AR2: Cory Richardson 4TH: Lorant Varga VAR: Jorge Gonzalez AVAR: Ian McKay D.C. United vs Los Angeles FC Audi Field (3:00PM ET) REF: Robert Sibiga AR1: Kyle Atkins AR2: Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho 4TH: Marcos DeOliveira VAR: Geoff Gamble AVAR: Eric Weisbrod Toronto FC vs Chicago Fire BMO Field (3:00PM ET) REF: Armando Villarreal AR1: Jeffrey Greeson AR2: Jeremy Kieso 4TH: Ramy Touchan VAR: Sorin Stoica AVAR: Robert Schaap New York Red Bulls vs Minnesota United Red Bull Arena (7:00PM ET) REF: Joe Dickerson AR1: Corey Parker AR2: Gianni Facchini 4TH: Christopher Penso VAR: Luis Guardia AVAR: Gjovalin Bori Columbus Crew vs New England Revolution MAPFRE Stadium (7:30PM ET) REF: Rubiel Vazquez AR1: Ian Anderson AR2: Andrew Bigelow 4TH: Ismir Pekmic VAR: Chico Grajeda AVAR: Kevin Klinger Orlando City vs Colorado Rapids Orlando City Stadium (7:30PM ET) REF: Jair Marrufo AR1: Corey Rockwell AR2: Logan Brown 4TH: Elvis Osmanovic VAR: Daniel Radford AVAR: Kyle Longville Philadelphia Union vs FC Dallas Talen Energy Stadium (7:30PM ET) REF: Tim Ford AR1: Frank Anderson AR2: Nick Uranga 4TH: Dave Gantar VAR: Kevin Stott AVAR: Peter Manikowski San Jose Earthquakes vs Portland Timbers Avaya Stadium (8:00PM ET) REF: Drew Fischer AR1: Brian Poeschel AR2: Micheal Barwegen 4TH: Lukasz Szpala VAR: Edvin Jurisevic AVAR: Chris Elliott Seattle Sounders vs Real Salt Lake CenturyLink Field (10:00PM ET) REF: Nima Saghafi AR1: Michael Kampmeinert AR2: Matthew Nelson 4TH: Alex Chilowicz VAR: Kevin Terry Jr AVAR: Joshua Patlak 04/07/19 FC Cincinnati vs Sporting Kansas City Nippert Stadium (3:00PM ET) REF: Ismail Elfath AR1: Jason White AR2: Adam Garner 4TH: Ismir Pekmic VAR: Jon Freemon AVAR: Peter Balciunas
Notes: This is the first 4th official assignment for both Lorant Varga and Lukasz Szpala and the first AVAR assignment for Ian McKay. Elfath gets two of the first three FC Cincinnati home games ever played for some weird reason. Whistle #3 for Tim Ford. Both Fotis Bazakos and Alan Kelly have USL Championship assignments this week so I would assume that both have passed fitness at this point.
I’m not holding out any hope that the league will hand down anything additional for that horrific challenge by Rooney. They need the ticket sales.
Rooney did deserve the card, but, yet again, Sibiga and crew ignore the pattern of Bradley teams to double- or triple-team players and rotate fouls without being called. LAFC's number 7 had at least 7 fouls called against him without so much as a talking to....So, of course United starts to boil over. It's been the play of every Bradley team for years. And suggesting game management to reduce this kind of performance is verboten. "The players are professionals, they have to learn to let it go" is often bandied about...but the refs are supposed to be pros, too.
Huh? It was 3-0 after about a half hour. Rooney got sent off in the 52’. Allegedly unsanctioned PI is your takeaway from that match? And something that at least indirectly relates to Rooney’s red card? Interesting conclusion.
I think the question on the Rooney red is one of process and maybe subconcious defensive bias sneaking into officials' minds now that they have the crutch of VAR. Rooney's foul is at 49:19. Initially Sibiga shows no card. He finally shows yellow at 50:02. VAR check initiated at 50:38. Red shown at about 51:40. Give Sibiga the benefit of the doubt and say he just didn't see the severity of his challenge from his angle and distance. The challenge is directly in front of Kyle Atkins, who has a clear view. Also in front of FO Marcos De Oliviera. How do the two of them first allow Sibiga to show no card and then, apparently, recommend a yellow? That's really incomprehensible. It also puts Sibiga in the position of spending over a full minute telling the LAFC players it wasn't that bad, only for him to then see on video that it was that bad. It looked like Sibiga was managing the personalities well, which is good, but it unnecessarily puts a dent in his credibility. I know MLS still deducts points on assessments if you miss a clear KMI and get it corrected by VAR (you lose fewer points than if you don't get it corrected, but you still lose points). So it's wrong to believe referees are actively going for the less controversial call because they have the backup of VAR. But I think it might be subconsciously happening. I think officials are letting their guard down on VC and SFP.
Rapids fans think Nani should have seen red here for attempted headbutts, thoughts? 1114712476736806912 is not a valid tweet id
Yes, I think he should have. With the FA Cup incident, this is twice in a day where an attempted headbutt isn’t given despite having VAR.
You're right that there is no correlation between Sibiga's PI issues and Rooney's red. However, I think Sibiga was "off" all game. There was an extraordinarily long VAR check on Jara's penalty; you'd think Sibiga would have at least gone to the monitor to "sell" how long that check took. He did a couple of warnings for PI, one to an LAFC player (not sure if it was Blessing or Kaye) and one to Rodriguez for DCU, but the only PI yellow he gave out was to Junior Moreno for his only foul of the match. DCU players were getting visibly frustrated that LAFC weren't getting cautioned for any (perceived?) PI themselves. The Rooney red was a pretty big miss - it looked ugly from where I was sitting in the stadium (at midfield, right behind the broadcast cameras), and the fact that it took so long to get to yellow, let alone needing a VAR check for red, was pretty incredible.
I’m still waiting on the video review for the deliberate stud kick to my chest. I’ve gotten carded for love taps...— Fafa Picault (@Fafagoal23) April 7, 2019 He's not wrong, but I don't know how well it was picked up by the cameras. If there's an angle that shows it fully...
That Nani thing is another example of the crew losing focus bc of VAR probably. The JAR should have had that. Maybe its not "enough" to go to VAR, but Nani gave quite a few chances to be caught by someone in real time. Its unsanctioned plays like that which give MLS a bad name. If you follow that on Twitter, MLS is basically being mocked by fans globally over that melt down going unsanctioned. Marrufo is in a tough spot though, because something like a UB caution would likely just inflame it more, but that's the kind of thing Marrufo normally doesn't back down from.
You must be confusing Marrufo with Baldomero Toledo or some other referee in MLS. This incident and meltdown is exactly the kind of play Marrufo has backed down from in his entire career. It's why he pretty much gets all the biggest assignments MLS. His card and send off count is extraordinary low for someone with his number of games. Look at these numbers below. He just doesn't give red cards or many cautions. http://proreferees.com/stats/referee-stats/referee-stats-2018/ http://proreferees.com/stats/referee-stats/referee-stats-2017/ http://proreferees.com/stats/referee-stats/referee-stats-2016/ http://proreferees.com/stats/referee-stats/referee-stats-2015/ http://proreferees.com/stats/referee-stats/referee-stats-2014/ http://proreferees.com/stats/referee-stats/referee-stats-2013/ You don't go 5 or 6 or 7 seasons without producing a second caution red card in an MLS match (someone remind when was his last second caution send off prior to this season) without "looking the other way" or "backing down" on certain cautions and incidents. Even though I don't like his style, I have to concede that Marrufo is very successful at the way he manages a game. Bottom line it works. But, statistically speaking, he isn't a very stringent enforcer of the laws of the game This clip right here is a perfect example. https://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/m...ty-sc-vs-colorado-rapids/details/video/187715 This is a textbook caution. I'd argue that it should be a red card for DOGSO-H, but, at minimum, it should be a yellow card. What does Marrfuo do? Just call the penalty kick. Compare to that to another referee who gives a yellow for this. https://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/m...akes-vs-portland-timbers/details/video/187624
Though I cannot accurately predict what Marrufo or Fischer would do if the roles were reversed... At the FIFA level, it is taught that handling to stop a shot on goal must be a yellow at least. Meanwhile, the concept of yellows for SPA in the penalty area is pretty much extinct; so there’s more wiggle room with the call in Orlando. I wouldn’t be shocked if PRO said both calls were accurately made. The shot vs cross is an important distinction.
That's an absolute joke that Nani isn't sent off for that...even with VAR. I don't care who the referee is.
I have it on very good authority that PRO wanted VAR to intervene and send off Nani. I say that with 100% certainty. Now, why PRO has gone down the path of publicly explaining VAR interventions (good or bad) but not also speaking up when there was a missed intervention... that I cannot answer. Incremental steps, I suppose. But not publicly saying Nani should have seen red undermines Toledo for his previous decision and, in my eyes, makes it very difficult for the next headbutt decision to be properly sanctioned without some serious negative team and fan reaction. This is the problem when governing bodies go down the transparency path. Transparency is good. But when it's only partial transparency, people presume that silence speaks volumes and interpret it their own way.
No kidding. By not publicly addressing, it supports those who think it should not have been a send off because there was not enough force. I know PRO is focused on its games (and has likely communicated it to its members in a less public way), but I think it is doing a grave disservice to the rest of soccer in this country by leaving that out there--especially, as MR notes, when they have created the illusion of transparency.
I general, I think it would be beneficial to address any particularly controversial incidents, and they've largely done that in previous weeks. They don't have to be missed reviews. Telling us why something was correctly not reviewed is also very helpful! For week 6, in addition to Nani, I'd have liked to have seen the Ziegler incident addressed, and perhaps talk about that Zlatan goal?
Agree with Massref that the standard it sets for the next ref with a headbutting incident is a problem. Obviously PRO will have addressed this internally. However, since they have not addressed it publicly the next time Kelyn Acosta attempts a headbutt and gets sent off he will tweet nasty about it.
I can tell you that my fellow Rapids fans have taken this as "another" example of the league being biased towards big stars/teams. I'm a little shocked the DisCo hasn't issued a suspension but not that shocked because it is the DisCo.
Nani scored a hell of a free kick this week, in a game he should not have been playing in. It is important to remember that these non-calls have carry-on effects in subsequent games.