forgive me for not knowing minute, details etc but midway thru the second half, a DC player challenged a Philly player newr the touchline, philly player fell over and the DC player appeared to kick him as he was falling. Referee issued a ref card and emphatically pointed to the stands. A minute or so later, the announcers insinuate that the RC was rescinded. Thanks to tv cameras i dont recall restart. Anyone else see this?
Post-game report was that the Philly player went to the ref and said he wasn't kicked, so the ref rescinded the card.
I think so, there was a trial run during this game incidentally. No calls were changed or formally reviewed however.
Maybe, maybe not. Assume for a moment the Union player didn't tell Stoica that it wasn't a kick out. Based on the replays, you see a little bit of what looks like a kick. So, if Stoica gives a red, you've got a couple possibilities other than having the card overturned. 1. The VAR determines that there is enough of a "kick" to say this is not a "clear and obvious error." VAR checks it, doesn't initiate a review with the OFR. 2. VAR determines it might be a clear and obvious error, therefore refers it to Stoica to do an OFR. Stoica does the OFR but, since VAR has limited angles, determines his initial view was better than the replays available on replay and sticks with the red card. Of course, it's just as likely--perhaps more so--that the VAR suggests to Stoica it's a clear error, Stoica does the OFR, and concludes that he didn't see what he thinks he saw. And the card get overturned. But it's definitely not that black and white.
I wouldn't ascribe to this logic. Unless you're willing to stipulate or concede that no referee can ever be 100% sure about anything. The issue here is that Stoica's position for the rest of the match becomes untenable if he insists on a red card. The DC players think it's not a red card. The Union player who was the alleged victim has said it's not a red card. How can Stoica manage the rest of the match if he goes with a game-changing decision that both teams tell him is wrong? He's got to go with the players want in a situation like this. In fact, I'd guess Stoica still thinks this was violent conduct based on the video because the attempted kick is evident. It's just an issue of the contact being so light that selling the red card (particularly when the aggrieved player is saying he wasn't kicked) becomes impossible.
On a somewhat related issue, is it possible to pin the MLS Referee Forum link to the sticky threads or on top of the normal threads instead of where it is? I think that where it is now, too many people either don't know, or forget, that is exists.
No. It's the format of the entire site to have sub-forums above threads. If it really bothers you, you have to take it up with the site admins/technical staff.
Or that he understands it's a game for the players, not the referee. If the "kicked" guy says "I didn't get kicked", then the players, are telling you who do. do it.