Time for some matches that probably shouldn't happen! The Red Bulls, for example, are missing 3.5 starters because of international call-ups. Fun! All times Central Saturday, March 24 10:00 AM: Canada v. New Zealand in Murcia, Spain 12:00 PM: New England - New York City 2:30 PM: Dallas - Portland, UniMas 5:00 PM: Columbus - D.C. United 6:00 PM: NYRB - Minnesota 8:00 PM: Colorado - Kansas City 9:00 PM: Vancouver - LA Galaxy Tuesday, March 27 (should this be included in Week 4 or 5?) 6:00 PM: United States - Paraguay, FS1 Off this week because MLS decided to make a half-correct decision regarding international breaks: Atlanta, Philadelphia, Montreal, Orlando, Chicago, Toronto, LAFC, Houston, Salt Lake, San Jose, Seattle In other scheduling notes, after this week of games, 6 teams will have played 4 matches, while 7 teams will have played just 2. It's genuinely tough to get into the start of a season when the scheduling is so maddeningly inconsistent. Anyway, enjoy the games as they are. Try not to be mean to anyone on the internet this week.
Shocking as this may to come to some of you, Minnesota is also missing three starters due to international callups. Including both center backs. Fun indeed. (I think our trip to New Eng-er-land was during the international window last year and we were missing four players then...thanks, Don)
What do you think the weather will be like? (Yes, I know, I could consult weather.com or something but I prefer to ask the locals.)
THIS is why when people argue MLS won't expand by 1 or 3 teams (only an even number) because it would offset the schedule by one team always having a bye..... I just smile, shake my head, and move on.
FWIW , I've heard that it's the teams themselves that often elect to play over international breaks, but I'm sure that's not always the case.
28 games down, 363 plus 17 playoff games to go. VAR is love. VAR is life. ALL-TIME REGULAR SEASON STATS: 5105 games, 3.42 Y/g, 1311 R, 1519 pens 2018 REGULAR SEASON STATS: 28 g, 3.43 Y/g, 8 R, 11 pens And now, your 2018 Week 4 referees. Saturday, March 24 NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION vs NEW YORK CITY FC 13:30 EDT - MLS LIVE (USA/CAN), NBC Sports Boston, YES REF: Jair MARRUFO - 223 g, 2.77 Y/g, 41 R, 66 pens (2018: 1 g, 3.00 Y/g, 0 R, 0 pens) AR1: Kyle ATKINS - 51 g AR2: Cameron BLANCHARD - 41 g 4TH: Robert SIBIGA VAR: Chris PENSO HOME: 1.22 Y/g, 23 R AWAY: 1.56 Y/g, 18 R HOME RECORD: 113 W - 60 D - 50 L NEW ENGLAND: 24 g, 1.17 Y/g, 2 R, 1 pen vs NE: 1.50 Y/g, 0 R, 3 pens NE RECORD: 8 W - 8 D - 8 L NYCFC: 6 g, 1.33 Y/g, 0 R, 1 pen vs NYC: 0.83 Y/g, 0 R, 1 pen NYC RECORD: 2 W - 1 D - 3 L Matching or reverse fixtures: 10/25/2015 NYC 1 - 3 NE NYC: 2 Y, 0 R, 1 pen NE: 1 Y, 0 R, 0 pens FC DALLAS vs PORTLAND TIMBERS 15:30 EDT - UniMas, Twitter, MLS LIVE (CAN) REF: Mark GEIGER - 174 g, 3.41 Y/g, 39 R, 55 pens (2018: 1 g, 3.00 Y/g, 1 R, 0 pens) AR1: Eduardo MARISCAL - 55 g AR2: Logan BROWN - 36 g 4TH: Allen CHAPMAN VAR: Edvin JURISEVIC HOME: 1.65 Y/g, 19 R AWAY: 1.76 Y/g, 20 R HOME RECORD: 84 W - 43 D - 47 L DALLAS: 22 g, 1.91 Y/g, 4 R, 3 pens vs DAL: 1.50 Y/g, 3 R, 2 pens DAL RECORD: 10 W - 4 D - 8 L PORTLAND: 12 g, 1.75 Y/g, 2 R, 2 pens vs POR: 0.92 Y/g, 2 R, 4 pens POR RECORD: 4 W - 4 D - 4 L Matching or reverse fixtures: 4/17/2011 POR 3 - 2 DAL POR: 3 Y, 0 R, 0 pens DAL: 1 Y, 0 R, 0 pens COLUMBUS CREW SC vs D.C. UNITED 18:00 EDT - MLS LIVE (USA/CAN), NewsChannel 8, CW Columbus, Spectrum Sports OH, BCSN2 REF: Drew FISCHER - 81 g, 3.22 Y/g, 12 R, 20 pens (2018: 1 g, 4.00 Y/g, 0 R, 0 pens) AR1: Jason WHITE - 59 g AR2: Danny THORNBERRY - 48 g 4TH: Alex CHILOWICZ VAR: Silviu PETRESCU HOME: 1.42 Y/g, 6 R AWAY: 1.80 Y/g, 6 R HOME RECORD: 33 W - 28 D - 20 L COLUMBUS: 10 g, 1.60 Y/g, 0 R, 4 pens vs CLB: 1.50 Y/g, 1 R, 1 pen CLB RECORD: 3 W - 3 D - 4 L D.C. UNITED: 7 g, 0.71 Y/g, 0 R, 0 pens vs DC: 1.14 Y/g, 1 R, 0 pens DC RECORD: 2 W - 4 D - 1 L Matching or reverse fixtures: NONE RED BULL NEW YORK vs MINNESOTA UNITED FC 19:00 EDT - MLS LIVE (USA/CAN), FOX Sports GO (regional), MSG2 REF: Hilario GRAJEDA - 156 g, 3.47 Y/g, 24 R, 23 pens (2018: 1st game) AR1: Craig LOWRY - 356 g AR2: Jonathan JOHNSON - 68 g 4TH: Jose Carlos RIVERO VAR: Jorge GONZALEZ HOME: 1.52 Y/g, 9 R AWAY: 1.95 Y/g, 15 R HOME RECORD: 76 W - 40 D - 40 L RED BULLS: 23 g, 2.17 Y/g, 2 R, 1 pen vs NYR: 1.48 Y/g, 3 R, 1 pen NYR RECORD: 12 W - 8 D - 3 L MINNESOTA: 2 g, 2.50 Y/g, 0 R, 0 pens vs MIN: 1.50 Y/g, 0 R, 0 pens MIN RECORD: 0 W - 0 D - 2 L Matching or reverse fixtures: 7/22/2017 MIN 0 - 3 NYR MIN: 2 Y, 0 R, 0 pens NYR: 1 Y, 0 R, 0 pens COLORADO RAPIDS vs SPORTING KANSAS CITY 21:00 EDT - MLS LIVE (USA/CAN), Altitude, FOX Sports KC, FOX Sports Midwest Plus REF: Sorin STOICA - 71 g, 3.97 Y/g, 26 R, 36 pens (2018: 1 g, 3.00 Y/g, 0 R, 1 pen) AR1: Andrew BIGELOW - 49 g AR2: Oscar MITCHELL-CARVALHO - 53 g 4TH: Alejandro MARISCAL VAR: Ricardo SALAZAR HOME: 1.89 Y/g, 12 R AWAY: 2.08 Y/g, 14 R HOME RECORD: 30 W - 25 D - 16 L COLORADO: 7 g, 1.71 Y/g, 0 R, 1 pen vs COL: 1.71 Y/g, 3 R, 1 pen COL RECORD: 2 W - 4 D - 1 L KANSAS CITY: 3 g, 3.00 Y/g, 0 R, 2 pens vs SKC: 3.00 Y/g, 1 R, 0 pens SKC RECORD: 1 W - 1 D - 1 L Matching or reverse fixtures: NONE VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC vs LOS ANGELES GALAXY 22:00 EDT - TSN1, MLS LIVE (USA), Spectrum SportsNet REF: Fotis BAZAKOS - 71 g, 3.72 Y/g, 16 R, 24 pens (2018: 1 g, 5.00 Y/g, 1 R, 1 pen) AR1: Peter BALCIUNAS - 146 g AR2: Eric WEISBROD - 62 g 4TH: Baldomero TOLEDO VAR: Dave GANTAR HOME: 1.63 Y/g, 8 R AWAY: 2.08 Y/g, 8 R HOME RECORD: 41 W - 21 D - 9 L VANCOUVER: 7 g, 2.00 Y/g, 0 R, 0 pens vs VAN: 2.00 Y/g, 1 R, 1 pen VAN RECORD: 2 W - 3 D - 2 L LA GALAXY: 4 g, 3.25 Y/g, 0 R, 0 pens vs LAG: 2.25 Y/g, 0 R, 1 pen LAG RECORD: 0 W - 2 D - 2 L Matching or reverse fixtures: NONE All team stats include playoff games
Seems Denmark got a taste of Concacaf. Yup. Blas Perez sent off for this in Panama’s friendly against Denmark pic.twitter.com/0ebdAFybBA— Henry Bushnell (@HenryBushnell) March 22, 2018 Luckily for Denmark, Euro refs don't play ... even if it's a friendly. The video with Panama trying to speak with the ref. Dear Europe, welcome to Blas Perez. I invite you to buckle up. -T https://t.co/9ZP9p6ucES— Total Soccer Show (@TotalSoccerShow) March 23, 2018
That was a truly awful and dangerous challenge for the ball. I'm glad he didn't get away with it. Will be interesting to see how Panama deals with non-CONCACAF officiating at the World Cup.
According to MLS, that is exactly the case. At least it was recently. I haven't seen a newer version of this interview: https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2016...heres-all-you-need-know-about-how-its-created
Panama is going to be a plucky upstart that people want to root for this summer...until they start playing. They're the epitome of everything awful about the sport. Same goes for their club teams.
They are going to play England in the World Cup. I am rooting for them to win and be full Concacaf just to see the reaction. The two things that are guaranteed are some sort of racial/cultural sentiment sent towards Panama that is really unpleasant and England just tearing itself apart.
Vancouver has successfully appealed Kendall Waston's red card. His fine and suspension have been rescinded. I think he's still out tomorrow with an international call up.
Egypt pulled a full FIFA 18 and blew a 1-0 lead in stoppage time. Then they gave up another and lost.
Sorry, missed it because I am lying in a hammock in the middle of the South Pacific next to a turquoise lagoon. I accept your sympathy and compassion.