Out of curiosity, if VAR had given the Larentowicz handball as a PK, does that take away the Villalba goal?
I believe so. The ATL announcers described it as a referee's nightmare, disallowing a goal and awarding a penalty to the other team.
The official highlights from MLS skip over the entire sequesnce. If you just watch the condensed match, you’d think Atlanta made a nice run and scored. The league’s selective truth rivals The NY Times.
It just speaks to the sentimentality of Crew fans almost always taking precedence over common sense. One is a league average defender with a few good games and great hair. The other is a top 5-10 player in the league who has individually out performed our entire midfield. It would probably make a bit of a difference.
Yep. It is a clear violation in the buildup to a goal that also happens to be a PK for the other team. Despite all our lousy decision making & execution in promising areas, if we get that call, we likely win. Mensah is terrible in scramble mode. We have to play some sort of 352/343 vs them to have a chance. -------------Steffen-------------- --Mensah--Sauro--Abubakar-- Afful--Artur--Trapp--Santos ------------Higuain-------------- -----Zardes----Opoku/Meram Bench: Kempin; Jimenez, Williams; Clark, Meram/Opoku; Mullins +1 (Valenzuela or another attacker).
Seems like a no call made by MLS marketing. League's nightmare is 45K fans booing a call against the home side.
I thought the team played pretty well overall. Atlanta is a very good team and a bad (non)- call most likely changed the outcome. I was disappointed in the play of all of our DP's. They all let me down at some point in the game. They should be game changers and they are not.
Jiminez and Santos struggled together. Without a sky cam view I can't know for sure which is at fault but 2 or 3 times early in the game, Jiminez played line passes up the sideline intended for Santos that ATL intercepted. That action appeared off screen. So I don't know if Hector played blindly and Santos was not in position or if he was in position but let the defender run around him and beat him to the ball. Santos continues to be garbage. He earned a couple dangerous free kicks, served on nice cross and a couple decent deadballs. Other than that he was a disaster. I agree with @Coupe that all 3 of our DPs were disappointing (and have been a lot). Opoku showed more than Santos. Mensah cost us a goal and Pipa with his flicks and one timers didn't amount to anything but lost possession. I thought Artur quietly had a really nice game. He's always been engaged defensively and was again yesterday. He found a bit of his offensive groove which was nice to see. Of course, it would have been nice to see it result in a goal, but he pushed the play and got it to our wingers or Pipa which is his job in the attack. We've missed that a bit. Trapp had the assist on the goal and a lot of turnovers. Atlanta keyed on him starting our transition play and he was a bit of a mess because of it. Watching Almiron blow past him with the ball and Wil not be able to catch up is a reason he's not a big transfer target. Opoku in his surprise start showed more than any of our other wingers have shown all season. He won the job in my opinion. I liked what he brought a lot. We had quite a few chances to take a 2-1 lead that were squandered. Someone, anyone, please can we get a goal from a player besides Zardes?
The talent gap was on display. Yes, we could have pulled something out, but their top 3 are just so much better than our top 3. The cumulative effect of that had repercussions all over the field. That handball is usually given. I will disagree that his arm was in an unnatural position as far as semantics go, however. His arm was where it naturally would be. Unnatural would be to have that arm tucked in behind his back or pinned to his side, but that is normally what is expected to avoid a handball call in that situation. It also pinged off his thigh so its not like he had any idea that his hand would be involved. I think it is a good example that the way the law is implemented is completely random at best and subjective/biased at worst. Most handballs called are unintentional. Nobody wants to give up a PK. I think it would help if the rule was better defined. The way it is normally called is if the player could have done more to avoid the handball and whether or not the unintentional handball stopped a promising offensive play. They ought to change the law to align with how it is really implemented.
Yes. But only one each. We're going to have to expand the roster for more goals once Steffen has scored.
Didn't see the game. Were we able to play on their turf? One huge advantage the Uniteds (not to be confused with the Uniteds or the Uniteds) have is the actual field.
What was MLS marketing's angle when Mullins threw himself to the ground when we got a PK vs Orlando. Look, the team has been the beneficiary of two extremely questionable calls in the two games leading into this. Anyone complaining about the ref from Saturday has a losing mentality. And I'm hopeful that the team is stronger mentally than the fanbase, because......holy shit you guys gotta get a grip.
Well, the complaint isn't about the center missing the handball, it's about the failure to use VAR to fix a clear and obvious error. Why have it at all if it isn't going to be used?
Instant Replay guys on MLS site both say handball. Regardless, not looking at it on VAR is a major miscue.