Yeah, I saw Nowak at reserve games several times but he would be off to the side letting Soehn run the show. In defense of the ref pictured above with eyes closed he was the AR not the center ref and he made the call near the end of the game (yellow card was awarded but the restart was a corner kick if I recall correctly), the center ref totally missed it and it led to a big brouhaha.
When will he be leaving for the u20 World Cup? I would think if he is going to get 1st team minutes it will be after that unless the USOC is starting soon. It wouldn't make sense to work him in to the rotation and then see him leave for a month or however long he'll be gone. And if he can carry over his reserve performances into the first team, something tells me once he gets in there, you won't be getting him out.
yes, that is indeed the AR on the side where the stands were. He did, however miss a pretty brutal tackle about 5-10 yards in front of him with no call. I will give him credit tho for the call at the end of the game. I was looking down at the time, but from the corner of my eye it looked like the guy clipped Moose after the ball was gone. The AR waved the ref over, rather insistently too, to tell him what happened. If I could have gotten a pic of the center ref with his eyes closed I would have He was pretty bad in the second half. I really didn't notice him much in the first half.
on another note... there was somebody there with a video camera. Is that an official team thing? Or just a rather industrious fan? Is there any rules about recording the game (I wouldn't think so...)?
I'm 99% sure that the person filming was with the team. You should check with Doug or Kyle (DCU Communications) on what the rules are before hauling your equipment out. K
Talked to the AR after the match, and he insisted that the ball was actually out of play when the misconduct occurred. Not sure that I agree, but if true that would mean that only a card could have been given. Misconduct can take place (and be punished) at any time, but fouls cannot occur when the ball is not in play. What the AR did not signal for, inexcusably IMO, was a two-handed push in the back earlier int hat half by one of the Houston defenders against ?Dyachenko? which occured just as a ball was about to arrive in front of them. Not only did the push prevent the DC player from playing the ball, he was knocked face-first onto the ground. It was violent and unsporting, worthy of both a DFK and a caution, and it got neither. The AR is a nice guy, but he missed that big time and let the officiating team down by not signalling for that or for several other egregious fouls that he was better placed than the center to see. The center was callign a pretty open game, but he was not being consitent, which IMO is the big bugaboo of officiating. You can "let the boys play" or you can clamp down and refuse to tolerate rough play, but either way, get it the same all the time. It was nice to see Cullen briefly, though he didn't contribute much. I think he was a pretty decent player back in the day.
I don't have any video equipment at the moment, but I can't deny the thought of posting Reserve Team highlights (or maybe the whole game!) on Youtube or somesuch didn't cross my mind If'n'when I get the urge to plunk down some cash for a video setup I will make sure to check first. I imagine it should be OK since it is open to the public (not a closed practice), and I doubt anyone has negotiated rights... to... hmmm. Maybe I shouldn't put that idea out on the interwebs....
That's how I saw it. Rightly or wrongly, I thought that the ball out of play. Patrick Ianni was the Houston Pusher.
i believe the entire team attends reserve matches. i think the first team guys not playing have a meeting then come watch the side. at least i know that's what peter had going on. i recall one reserve match where adu and nowak had a heart to heart in the corner that more people were watching than the match.
Ah, yes! Otherwise known to the sideline boo-birds as Pannini. I did also mean to cite the Houston GK's atrocious time-wasting as another thing that the center referee should have put a stop to. I was waiting for the Metros Reject to set up a deck chair or maybe start making sandwiches before executing his goal kicks.
I was really close to it and I laughed because it was such an obvious dive by Moose. Not sure any contact was made but if it was he fell way after.
I don't understand. Our players don't dive. It's only the cheaters on other teams that do. Oh, and we don't foul either.
I remember the play you're thinking of. Video showed it wasn't really a foul; it was a vengeful ref getting back at Benny for being so damn good.
Not to pick on you, but I think the ref was very consistent. The trouble was that DC players weren't being very aggressive, so they tended to look like the victim of fouls way more than the initiator of them. The ref was letting a lot go, but DC players weren't challenging hard for the ball anywhere near as often as the Houston players were. I blame DC for that. If both teams are going at it full bore, then the calls would have evened out in my opinion. And I don't mean DC played clean and Houston played dirty and got away with it. What I mean is that they went after the ball hard every time and the more passive DC players got bundled over so it seemed like they were being fouled but in in reality they were just being outhustled. If they'd have played a bit harder, it would have been a far more even game in the way it was called and in the result. I don't blame the ref one bit. The DC players didn't try hard enough in my opinion. The team that wanted to win more did so. Bottom line for me is that DC players looked like a team that expected having more talent would win out at the end of the day, but they were beaten by a team that worked harder than they did.
Foul was actually a cheap shot by "Chewie" that should have resulted in a red card. I was down in the corner when it happened. Moose and Chewie went for the ball and Chewie pushed it out for a corner. When they were getting untangled, he kicked Moose "in the process". That's why it wasn't noticed. Tommy was there in the corner. For me it was much simpler, only one team showed up and it wasn't the 11 players from DC. The DC squad looked like 11 individuals out there for most of the match. Sure a few players had great plays and did somethings, but as a team they were pretty much crap. No combinations, no one working for their teammates, yelling and miscommunication, and basically 11 guys out there "showboating" and "ball hogging". Sad and frustrating. The issue with the referee was that he was letting play go for the "rough stuff" but DC has never (either reserves or senior side) learned how to play rough. The team either plays very soft or they give in to cheap fouls that a referee has to call - i.e. late tackles, elbows to the head, blatant pushes. They don't seem to know how to execute a tough shoulder challenge or a body block that is hard enough to knock the opponent off the ball but not appear to be a foul.
Not to worry: I don't feel picked on, I just wholeheartedly disagree. I think that there is a difference between strong, legal challenges and challenges that are careless, reckless, or use excessive force. I think the center called DC players for a number of fouls that anyone would agree were fouls, but he failed to call similar or more violent fouls when committed by the Houston players. That's not rewarding more committed play; that's rewarding foul play. I wholly reject the sort of football that some fans seems to admire, football where players cleverly conceal excessive and violent conduct--that's not admirable, it's simply cheating. Being a clever cheat isn't praiseworthy.