Official: Union Alumni, Where Are They Now?

That point would almost start to make sense if Salinas ever even touched Gardner's leg.

 

STuds weren't up, he didn't lunge in, he hardly made contact - there wasn't a red card worthy thing there. People and refs are going to turn the sport non-contact if they continue this. Just because some people were unlucky to have bad leg breaks, doesn't mean any little thing should be a red card. Injuries and accidents happen.

 

You don't have to make contact. The laws say a challenge using excessive force. The red is defensible under that. The league is a little gun shy after the challenges earlier in the year that were, IMO, incorrectly, attributed to referees letting too much go. If you go into someone that hard and that awkwardly, it should be a red card.

 

Then ref's are going to start being scared when it is 7v7 and the next red card will cause the game to be cancelled. You see similar things happening all the time in games. There was absolutely nothing he could do there - he was running after the ball, getting pulled back and the other player got to the ball first. Does he ignore the laws of physics and move mid-air or suddenly stop?

 

I don't know what to tell you. If a referee sets that standard and players don't get it, then it isn't his fault if the game ends up 7v7 or is abandoned at 6v7. I haven't seen that many challenges that hard go unpunished and that was a much harder challenge than others in that match. A different referee might view it slightly different and go yellow, but it's an easily defensible red. If you come in that fast, lunge like that, put your leg out, and connect like Salinas did, it should be a red. The players don't want to get hurt and will generally understand and this also happened in front of the Vancouver bench with little dissent. The AR also seemed to back the call.

 

Im only going on what was in the video- have no idea if the AR backed the call or not (but when you see an AR back the ref's penalty and red card call in teh RSL game - when he had to have seen that it was wrong - do you think that makes it more concrete red?). Also - from the video - it looks to me like the vancouver bench was unhappy with it.

I didn't see the rest of the game, so maybe there was more to it than the replay shows - but in my opinion it merits maybe a yellow, free kick definitely, red never.

And for "harder" fouls not being punished, i take it you don't watch many union games....

 

I think that we've gotten some crappy referees this year and have benefited in some ways. There have been hard challenges but its all in what the referee sees in the moment. I can't really equate this to what happened in Salt Lake. That was a tougher decision. It was wrong, but I understand why it was called that way.

The bench is always going to be unhappy when it has a player sent off, but it could have been worse in that instance if it was really a miscarriage of justice.

 

I brought up the RSL thing because of the point you made that the AR backed him up. For anything that big - the AR is unlikely to not back him up unless there is something really obvious.

I can see the need to cut out dangerous tackles etc - for me this wasn't anywhere near one. His studs weren't up - and there was no excessive force (imo). Everything came within the natural run of play - and at that point - Shea couldn't do anything else. DO you want him to give up on the play altogether? People would be abusing him for lack off effort. If you start to make those a red card (and even if other refs wouldn't - it still sets a precedent) then you really are going to end up - at some point in the game being non-contact.

Instead of that red card - more has to be done about dangerous tackles from behind. In the DC game - there was one guy went right through the back of i think Mapp - no free kick, nothing. Maybe he got the ball - but he went right through Mapp to get it. Other side - Williams went right through the back of someone - and even got the free kick. Those are the tackles that should be red cards. Later in the game - Califf went right through the back of someone - and the ref played advantage. He didn't go back and book califf (at the least). WHen you see that - and then Shea getting sent off for his foul - you see the issue.

Think back to the Vancouver game - how many red cards would there have been if the ref from Wed had reffed it? In that game - it got dangerous because the ref let things go. Maybe that was happening in the game yesterday - and Shea was almost "the last resort" to get control of the game - i can't tell because i didn't see the game. If that was the case- fair enough.

If not - everyone knows Shea isn't a dirty player, everyone knows that he was running at pace with the ball (and either bad control or being pulled back or just misjudging the defenders actions he lost it). At that point - what does he do? I don't think the ref took that into consideration at all. From the ref's actions - it seems he went in with his studs up - which would be a red card - but from the video, it was clear to me he didn't do that.

 

I can't disagree with much here, but it's all how the referee see it and the red is easily justifiable. Shea isn't a dirty player, but that rarely gets you a pass. The referee is also looking at this from a different angle. He motioned that there was a high straight leg and studs exposed. That's what he saw from where he was and doesn't have the luxury of the replays and additional angles.

The Vancouver game here was a rough one and the near side AR was imploring the referee to tighten up. It's entirely possible that games like that have been reviewed and discussed with referees to get them to tighten up.

 

If i was good enough to be a pro I would do the same thing. I wouldnt leave his hip during stoppage time so im first to switch

 

You might want to be careful if you're hanging around Christiano Ronaldo's 'hips'... you could get something poking you in the eye. Just sayin.

 

Chris Agorsor signs with RSL.

http://twitter.com/#!/rsltribune
GM Garth Lagerwey confirms #RSL has signed former Philadelphia forward Chris Agorsor to a contract, after several weeks on trial with team.

 

http://www.nasl.com/index.php?id=228

Coudet with 6 goals, 4 assists this season for Ft. Lauderdale.

Zimmerman with 5 goals for Carolina.

Brad Knighton leading the NASL with 0.86 GAA for Carolina.

 

Chris Agorsor should be in the Active Players (MLS) category, no?

 

Jordan Harvey (Vancouver)

 

Just to add something real quick, Thomas was on trial with Portsmouth last week while they were in Charleston. Wasn't picked up.

 

Last week you say? That run in to the box he made should just be finishing.

 

lol

 

I saw somewhere that Holder is now with FC New York.

 

It's listed on his FB under the Union. Sent an email to the team, haven't heard back yet.