Taylor Twellman defended the call in the LAFC game and said the referee crew did a good job with it. That followed a clip where Cherundolo said it was a bad call. Cherundolo said the defender made a deliberate play. He also thought there was a bad offside call earlier. He said something about the AR raising his flag and he shouldn’t have. I think he said that meant it couldn’t be reviewed, which I didn’t follow.
PRO posted a video going over the offside decision from LA v LAFC with the VAR audio: 🧐// 𝗔 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗸Latif Blessing’s goal for @LAFC was disallowed on Saturday because teammate Mamadou Fall was offside in the buildup.See how @MLSVAR rectified a clear and obvious error (albeit a complex call in real-time) in a critical match situation.#LAvLAFC pic.twitter.com/RSkosKweQu— PRO (@PROreferees) April 10, 2022
Yeah. As noted, this was Petrescu's first assignment of the season. I wonder if this performance will lead to another period of inactivity for him.
What about the possible DOGSO RC to MIA7 at 7’? Touchan only gave an SPA YC. Seemed like a fairly clear DOGSO situation.
On the Traffico offside, I understand why the AR missed the first offside, but he really should have had the second one. And if he would have got the second one, then all the controversy would be moot. There would have been no VAR, and no discussion about deliberate play vs. a save. I mean, cut it however you want, but here is a play with two missed offsides. That's not VAR's fault, nor is it the offside law's fault (unless you want to argue that the AR was confused, but i doubt that).
I think it's close. WIthout the wide replay it's hard to give a confident decision. With the speed of play and angle attack, yellow is probably the more credible decision even if red could easily be defended.
There were some pretty odd mechanics on display from DeOliveira in the RSL-TFC game on Saturday. TFC tied the game on a play VAR sent down for review of a possible foul on the turnover that led to the attacker getting the ball. DeOliveira took several minutes looking, then came out and made hand signals which had each team reacting as if he called against them. And then came out on the field looking confused, still communicating via earpiece/mic as crowd and announcers wondered what he'd decided. Ultimately the goal stood. The play in question is here - https://www.mlssoccer.com/video/goa...ute#goal-jayden-nelson-toronto-fc-79th-minute - but not the VAR/aftermath.
A little more shown on Instant Replay. CR is trying to say that he's waving off the review of the foul and that the goal stands. Clearly confused in the moment given he was rejecting the VAR's recommendation of a foul. (I'm confused how he could look at that and not see white going through red's leg to get to the ball.) (2:35 if this doesn't take you there direct).
I reiterate that DeOlivera may have more VAR rejections than any other referee, and some may be legitimately his fault, but also it seems like he has been on the wrong end of way more frivolous send downs than other refs. I can only deduce that there is some weird dynamic at play that I don't understand. It's unfortunate, because that was a good no-call.
Well, we’ll see what PRO says on Inside Video Review or at least The Definitive Angle. To be honest, I’d be quite surprised if they say the review was wrong. It’s a clear foul.
I was watching a replay of the SKC-NSH game. There was no VAR in that game because of tech issues. Was a little surprised that wasn’t noted in anything I read. Also found it interesting that Elfath and crew wore navy socks with green shirts even though SKC wore all navy. Just seems odd that Elfath seems to wear “mismatched” socks a lot when no other referee seems to do that in MLS.
I don't know if there was anything temporary, but there was definitely no permanent video review outage during the game that I've heard about.
I think this will be his last season. He's barely hanging on. I can't imagine PRO will bring him back next year.
Could you clear up how VAR affects how referees are assessed? I think I've read somewhere that if the CR gets the call right after review that will positively affect their overall assessment, so I'm wondering if the fact that Petrescu ultimately got it right in 2 of the 3 cases highlighted in the Definitive Angle (after review) means that this really wasn't THAT bad a performance.
My understanding has always been that the referee does get some credit for changing the call, but the size of the initial reduction varies depending on how PRO rates the difficulty of the call. They're still taking a hit on the assessment if, for example, they need video review to correct something that PRO thinks any of their referees should be able to get right on their own. On the other hand, if a referee is in the position they're expected to be in, and PRO thinks it's difficult or even impossible for them to have seen something, it might be a wash once they correct it with video review.
VAR was only out for the first 20 or so minutes. Then it was working again. Also, about Elfath’s socks: I’ve noticed that too, and mentioned it here! I really want to get to the bottom of it just out of pure curiosity haha