It's also been announced that Drogba will not face punishment for Leg Grab Gate. Not that I thought he should have.
I think Drogba should have been carded separately for the late tackle on Clark and the leg grab. Seems like he got a lot more than his money's worth for a single card.
Well, be careful. It's not rigged in their favor: it's rigged in Seattle's, LA's, and their favor. Seriously, though, the Calvinball in this league is why I don't pay attention to it like I used to. I used to DVR pretty much every league match that was physically possible to record (regardless of who was playing), pore over every team's roster, read all the news I could find, spend ridiculous amounts of time in discussions online about lots of stuff that didn't necessarily have anything to do with my team, etc. Now, I go to the tailgate, I go in to the match, and when it's over I mostly forget about MLS until the next match. MLS is not a soccer league: it's a single corporation that stages soccer exhibitions that are structured in the form of a league. It has entertainment value for me; but I can't get my ego wrapped up in it like I used to when it seems so obviously contrived.
I've read that somewhere, can't recall where right now. I agree that it's a rigged game. But why rig it in favor of New York's unfashionable second team?
Surprised no one has brought up the obvious handball in the FCD/Seattle game. Even the ref's organization thought it was a handball. I would like them to change the rule to any time a hand touches a ball in the box it's a pk. Too much inconsistency and judgement.
I tend to agree. There should be less arguing over it (though there will be until soccer inculcates a culture of respect for officials similar to rugby). There should be higher scoring because defenders will have to be incredibly careful to keep their arms tucked to their body, they will not be able to defend as effectively creating opportunities for offense.
Yeah ********ing humans and their ********ing stupid hands lets punish them for having them IMO, handballs should only be called when its obviously blatant. Outside that, you're literally punishing people for having arms and balancing themselves.
If your object is to teach players to shoot at the arms of the defense I think this is a great idea. If the object is to make the game more fair I think your proposal is lacking.
In CONCACAF qualifiers US players have learned the hard way to have their arms behind their backs in the box.
i'm not sure what they could have complained about after that game. i didn't see this post-game 'incident' but i watched the game. drogba's play on the columbus goalie looked 100% dirty to me. he endangered clark's safety, could have broken his leg. not to mention the clownish way he grabbed clark's leg when they were on the ground and the outrageously bullshit finger-pointing he capped it with. and it seemed the ref did nothing even though he saw the whole thing, until another game official made the call for him! i guess they think drogba might go home if they make a call against him...
If I'm not mistaken, the referee actually played advantage on that play. I could have sworn I saw him give that signal on the initial foul. It was only after the shenanigans of the leg grabbing occurred that he stopped the proceedings. There's also the fact that Montréal's second goal came on a play where Michael Parkhurst might have been fouled. MIGHT have -- the replays weren't much help. But my guess would be that the Montreal staff was upset because Harrison Afful's awful challenge came with about 30 seconds left in the match. A flying whack from behind which would probably earn a red card in a regular-season match. That was probably fresh on everyone's mind at that point.
So, to recap: Only Boswell worth additional punishment thus far, even though the play was adjucated on the field. (Jones likely to receive extra punishment after qualifiers, I mean playoffs). Thx, Jay!
If MLS were interested in rigging the playoffs in RBNY's favor, they would have punished Jones for a far worse foul in last year's eastern conference finals. Fact is, Zubar's foul wasn't as clear cut a red card as some people insist.
It was pretty clear cut. But it's over now. The better team won, even if they didn't look particularly convincing doing it against an injury depleted dcu.
DC fans irate that a second choice NY central defender playing because the first choice was hurt wasn't sent off for an orange card in a tight game (in which their team didn't put a shot in target). The excuses have to flow, I guess. Maybe the next game won't be played vs a team content to concede 65% possession as long as they can array two banks of defenders and play virtually no offense. Then any complaints about "unconvincing wins" might have some substance.
The Jones decision is going to be the most interesting since Dempsey's tempest in the US Open Cup against Portland. Apparently, the sanctions against Dempsey didn't slow Jermaine down. This will be an intriguing statement by the Disco.
I don't think its a coincidence that no discipline has been handed to Jones yet given what we know about the rules of suspensions for referee abuse and the National Team...
Hate to put you on the spot, Jason, but what might be your own best hypothesis as to what might eventuate in terms of sanctions for Jones?
I'm not complaining. I'm pretty sure I said the better team won. It's not an excuse either. DCU was pretty poor in the two games vs. NYRB. A red card absolutely *could* have changed the series though. Especially given they didn't have any real center backs on the bench. The goal came a few minutes later. Perhaps RB still scores, but more likely the first leg ends 0-0 since as you noted DC didn't get shots on frame. Their offense was really bad in that game. But it also then changes things at RBA today. RB have to find someone to take Zubar's place. No idea who that is. Odds are that DC probably still loses the series, but it was still a big call for a ref to miss. I'm not sure you'll find many pundits who are not RedBull fans that said it was the right call. Personally, I don't believe in any conspiracy theories involving refs. They make enough mistakes on their own. When the mistakes happen to favor allegedly MLS-favored teams the conspiracy theories pop up inevitably.
6 games is my bet. Handed down as soon as this month's WCQs are over. He'll miss the 2 WCQs in March while serving the suspension.
Seems like the only right move for MLS. Unless they want to give him DP special treatment and give him 3 or something. The other added aspect is what if he jumps ship from MLS? Will they then even bother giving him a suspension? Strangely, it happened right in the same are of the field as Espindola assaulting the AR last year. In both cases I was there and watched like it was in slow motion. Both times I wondered... why won't a teammate or coach get in the way and keep them from doing something stupid?