He is.....not one of the best......that Red on Tarek???? That'll be rescinded. I'm not even sure that was a foul, let alone a card. WTF is the VAR official doing? Was he/she on a bathroom break??? That card should have been reviewed, not that Elfath would go to the monitor....
Rivalry Week! Commish and league HQ exited to see this week's announcements of St. Louis entering and authentic, well earned rivalry matches for all to enjoy. Then tonight. Once again, a good game of pro soccer in our nation is ruined by our culture's refs.
The issue is you cannot review a yellow card. You can only review straight reds. So yellow for the tackle (which I wouldn't have given) and then an additional yellow for dissent. This red won't get rescinded either, for the same reason. The problem was the giving of the yellow on the initial "foul." I have zero idea how you can give a caution for that. It was two guys going hard on a 50/50 ball … at least for me.
Couldn't be. VAR can only look at straight reds and this was a yellow followed quickly by a second yellow (assuming for dissent).
Since no one has mentioned it, NYC held on for the 1-0 victory over the Crew. Columbus is completely toothless in the attack. I mean, just a difficult team to watch.
Thanks for the clarity! That was still classic Elfath making a horrible call.......he's still the same ref that presided over that USOC debacle between the Union and the Cosmos back in 2014....and he's arguably gotten worse since then, which is both impressive and sad.
Actually, I may stand corrected on the yellow card timing. MLS' matchtracker is finally back up and it has Tarek getting a yellow first in the 37th minute then the foul we all are talking about as his second. There wasn't anything for dissent.
LOL......how is that NOT going to VAR?!?!?!? That's a clear dive.... PK for RBNY, Royer converts. 2-1 RBNY
Amazing goal followed immediately by a pk to Red Bulls. Geez. Fans throwing shit on the field. Terrible. 1-2.
He already had a yellow? I missed that. Again, I am on record that the "foul" on Arriola was not a legit yellow in my book.
I will defend Elfath here. The angle from behind shows absolute clear foot to foot contact. Having said that, the reaction was ENTIRELY EMBELLISHED. But that is contact that 9 out of 10 refs call, even though I personally hate it.
I think he barely clips the heel. I don't personally think it is a PK, but I also don't think there is enough to overturn the call on the field. I'm also loathe to complain too much since the VAR official gets "better" camera angles (or at least they get to look at multiple ones while we only see what the director throws up on the screen). That is what the website and opta have. Haven't seen it anywhere else though so who knows right now.
What a horrific clown show of an official, missing that clear dive in the box was shambolic officiating.
I always try to look at these from the perspective of "what would I think if it had happened to MY TEAM?" And if that had happened to my team, I would want the pk, even though I, theoretically, HATE these type of calls. Refs always give them when seen, so I would want my team to get it.
Elfath clearly communicated with VAR and then waived the penalty forward. The VAR officials didn't even think it close enough for Elfath to waste his time going to the monitor.
It shall go unmentioned because the game itself was fairly dreadful. I was preparing dinner and happy for the distraction.
I agree. I just can't stand when the ref becomes so much a part of the game, the sport itself. Nearing the point when it becomes about him over the players. Just letting the sport breath. We still are at the point with outdoor association football in our sporting landscape that we must "sell" the sport to so many that are out there just getting into MLS. I mean our league is booming! On all fronts! Just want a ref to swallow his (her) whistle and let a good, combative encounter play out via the players. A ref should be little noticed really.
The problem is that he almost has to embellish it. If he is clipped on the foot and stumbles but doesn't go down then he likely doesn't get the call and it is called a goal kick. In both cases there is the same amount of contact and both will cause him to lose possession because he is off balance. If he goes down then people scream dive but if he doesn't go down people would scream if they call the pk cause he didn't "get tripped". If we want players to not embellish then we need to trust that refs will call trips that don't lead to a player falling down. That won't happen (in any league) though so players embellish. It is a problem in the sport that really doesn't have an easy solution.