History shows that the first 4-5 months after a significant injury you shouldn't expect much. Plata is on track for a 2-3 goal season if the current trends and performance hold...
The ref was bad, whatever, but the one thing that drove me nuts was that he was NEVER consistent with what was a foul for an aerial battle. Olave and Vasquez constantly got called for stuff that Sabo wasn't getting on the other end. Then Sabo would get called for what Wondo was doing. It wasn't just in SJ's favor, either. At times Sabo would have a handful of jersey, and the foul would be on Bernardez. It was baffling to watch how many times he called a different foul for the same aerial type battle.
I've been wondering about that. My theory is that something (or someone - KB5 gone wild?) is pissing off the refs and we're just spiraling out of their good graces. Even at the end of the game the ref seemed to be staring our guys down. Someone pissed him off. Probably after the WTF offsides call thing. Maybe we are petulant and entitled both as players and fans.
If being petulant and entitled as a fan revolves around demanding refs be (at a minimum) consistent and at least administer a game within the rules of FIFA then I guess we're the snobbiest bunch of snobs that ever existed. Also take into account, somehow the ref(s) came to the conclusion that this was a foul by Javi: https://vine.co/v/eZhAlPVVMYj And this was a foul by Olmes: https://vine.co/v/e7tqVdWwWZe If there were vine videos of all the extremely random events that the ref determined were fouls there would be another 10 pages in this thread. It was one of the most inconsistently called games I have ever seen in my life and the tone was set from the very first minute with KB's yellow card (and many subsequent fouls that were similar which were not given yellows).
Could the ref have determined Javi's was a dangerous play foul? It almost looks like he was rolling over in an attempt to head the ball away. Law 12 (page 37) lists an indirect free kick being awarded if a player plays in a dangerous manner. If the ref determined that Javi was trying to play the ball with his head while on the ground, it could fall under this infraction. Man, I really with Dadof6 was here to comment on this.
I believe this quote defines the entirety of the season. Saucedo hasn't been a disaster-- he has exceeded my expectations, red card included. Some of the rest have only been half disasters. but yeah pretty much.
I've had that called against me at about shoulder height in old man rec league in SLC. Pissed me off big time...got kicked in the face from the side from a guy I didn't see coming. If that's the rationale i could see it.
Honestly, what was called by the center was a foul for RSL. If you remember back to this moment, RSL pushed everyone forward treating it like a corner. Rightfully, the AR stepped in and said "what did you just call?" Because Javi flat out slipped. The center, you could tell (I sit in the top of 14, you could read lips from my seats to this foul) was saying that he thought Javi was tripped. That wasn't the case. So the ref asked the AR if anything should be called. He pointed out that Javi tried to reach back for the ball on the ground both with his hands and head and hit Salinas. That was the right call. The ref did a lot wrong, this was right.
Head, maybe, hands? No way. You can see in the Vine clip that as Javi goes down he looks back at the ball over his right shoulder, so he tries and flip around over his left side to do....something. I don't know what he was thinking, he put himself in a vulnerable position to get kicked by trying to roll over so fast and that's exactly what happened. Was he thinking he could actually make a play on the ball with his head? Maybe, only Javi knows what was going on mentally and he may not even remember now. But he definitely made no attempt at the ball with anything but his head and he almost certainly made zero contact with Salinas other than the inadvertent kick to the head. I see in no way that can be judged a "foul" by Javi other than putting himself in a dangerous position by rolling over quickly towards the ball (as a conscious decision by him). Nothing other than his head contacted Salinas. Basically, Javi sees the ball behind him/his head, rolls over quickly to his left as Salinas (which Javi can't see kicking at that point) goes to control the ball and as Salinas comes through the ball he kicks Javi's head. Salinas might have made contact with Javi's shoulder, again as a result of Javi rolling over quickly, but I can't tell for sure in the clips. How again is this a foul on Javi? I actually wonder if the ref ruled the play dead since Bingham kicked the ball out of bounds on the ensuing free kick. I don't know if he meant to kick it out of bounds, what makes me think that is perhaps he was playing the "gentlemen's rule" of kicking the ball out to return possession to the team of an injured opponent.
My only thought is that maybe he was being rested for Wednesday? It seems weird to be in the 18 if he was injured. With Gil, hes was frustrating me even before he took over Javi's spot. For a guy that was supposed to be on the right wing, he spent most of the time sitting in the midfield, like he was playing the right of the diamond. I remember a few times we'd try and push the ball up that side, only to have no outlet because Gil wasn't there. I'm really getting frustrated with the overall lack of support. There were plenty of times we'd send the ball forward, only to have nobody in the midfield come up to support the play. It's like whoever got the ball was left to try and so everything on their own. We also need to get out of the habit of playing around the back so much. If there's one thing that's been figured out about us, is that we love to play around the back regardless of opponent pressure. So many times we'd barely escape, and one time it almost cost us, but we got bailed out by a foul that was called. It's just crazy how the midfield seemingly doesn't want to move around and find space so that we don't have to play around the back as often.
From the angle I had it looked like he tried to reach back with his hands, the vine shows he was just turning his body. Regardless, Javi made an attempt on the ball (why he got kicked in the head) on the ground. So the right call would be dangerous play. Thats what the ref called. Bingham wasn't being a gentleman, he just shanked the ensuing free kick straight out of bounds. All of this pales in comparison to the fact that our trainer went through all of the concussion protocol AND STILL SENT JAVI BACK ON THE FIELD. That's a fire-able offense, if you ask me. No way he passes that and then 3 minutes later has to be subbed.
I thought the same thing after looking at the power rankings. No goals in the run of play since March and zero shots on goal against San Jose. I don't know if it's our forwards coach, or if it's Andy, but someone needs to get our attack going.
"Definitely a deliberate play by Beckerman?" The thing you're gargling with glee is a turd the oversight office polished up in this piece.
I can see the call going both ways. We've benefited from a similar play in previous years, so you win some and you lose some. Oh well, on to the next one.
BAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHHHA. Oh god, PRO cracks me up. "Definitely played by Beckerman...." Oh ya? What a ********ing joke.
Is someonr keeping track of gifts and takeaways this season? I would say this cancels out the Mulholland pk at least.
I remember two specific plays, one was against Colorado if I remember correctly in which a pass was purposefully directed backwards and I believe Sabo pounced on it from an offside position and scored. The other I can't remember the opponent, but the RSL player was again in an obvious offside position and the defender did not realize it, again taking a touch off a deflection in order to direct it towards his keeper. We again pounced on it and scored. This was seriously a bang-bang play, deflection off Olave and possibly a deflection off Beckerman. You're telling me either of those players had time to make a conscious decision to play the ball in any manner? That'd be impressive if true. Both probably though "oh shit, ball!" and before they could even position their bodies to make a physical play it deflected off them. Again, it comes down to "intentional" or not and I have absolutely no clue how you could rule either Olave or Beckerman making an intentional, controlling, touch on the ball.
Raise your hand if you officiate a sport you really haven't played/understand [Pro Raises Hand] We're going to get calls for and against us. Fine. This one was perceived to be against us. What baffles me is how you could say KB deliberately played the ball there with a straight face. How little understanding of the game do you have to justify that? Yeah, KB opens his hips and plays the ball. Sure. Is that deliberate? Is that not the most ambigous word you could possibly use, FIFA? The only way this could be worse if the law said the player attempted to play the ball. Or, even better, something about "affecting play". They have a law with that in it too? It pertains to THIS EXACT SCENARIO!!?? No way
If you listened to On Frame on Monday this was a HUUGGEEEE talking point from Dunny. It really boils down to the fact that most players don't have respect for the refs because they obviously never played the sport at a remotely high level. He told a story about how MLS tried to improve Ref and player relations by inviting the refs to participate in a player camp, pairing up with players and what-not. It became readily obvious that even something like passing the ball or trying different footwork techniques with the ball was something most refs had a ton of trouble with. Once you realize that the ref can't even do the basic fundamental things required to play soccer....it's tough to respect them as being on your level. And if you don't respect the refs how can you possibly believe a ref is capable of doing a decent job during a game situation? Personally I think minimum standards need to be applied to refs in terms of experience playing the sport. If you want to ref in MLS you better have at least played in college or the lesser pro leagues across the world.
Let me continue, LET ME CONTINUE!!! Explain to me how Wondo doesn't do one of these RIGHT WHEN THE BALL IS PLAYED. This is part of the law that drives me nuts and further drives home that refs don't understand the actual flow of a game. Wondo being there effects everything. He quite obviously gains an advantage by being there. If the law is applied when the ball is played, the pinball action doesn't matter
I guess it makes sense if the pinballing is considered playing the ball than the offside would reset. But yeah, super vague rules with stupid interpretations.
which comes back to point one. You can't tell me KB's deflection is possession. At this level, no way in hell is the ball hitting your feet suddenly possession. Pro is a ********ing joke
I think that's a rather ridiculous standard. Guys like Poll, Collina, Webb, Geiger, etc are considered some of the best referees (either currently or all time) and none of them played competitively after their teenage years (based on their Wikipedia entries).