04/23/22 FC Dallas vs Houston Dynamo Toyota Stadium (3PM ET) REF: Victor Rivas AR1: Brooke Mayo AR2: Jeffrey Swartzel 4TH: Pierre-Luc Lauziere VAR: Armando Villarreal AVAR: TJ Zablocki Philadelphia Union vs CF Montréal Subaru Park (3PM ET) REF: Lukasz Szpala AR1: Logan Brown AR2: Justin Howard 4TH: Joshua Encarnacion VAR: Timothy Ford AVAR: Mike Kampmeinert Minnesota United vs Chicago Fire Allianz Field (5PM ET) on ESPN REF: Silviu Petrescu AR1: Adam Wienckowski AR2: Lyes Arfa 4TH: Joe Dickerson VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero AVAR: Corey Rockwell D.C. United vs New England Revolution Audi Field (7:30PM ET) REF: Marcos DeOliveira AR1: Gianni Facchini AR2: Tyler Wyrostek 4TH: Elvis Osmanovic VAR: Edvin Jurisevic AVAR: Craig Lowry Austin FC vs Vancouver Whitecaps Q2 Stadium (8:30PM ET) REF: Ramy Touchan AR1: Matthew Nelson AR2: Gjovalin Bori 4TH: Luis Guardia VAR: Chico Grajeda AVAR: Jose Da Silva Sporting Kansas City vs Columbus Crew Children’s Mercy Park (8:30PM ET) REF: Fotis Bazakos AR1: Chris Wattam AR2: Kevin Klinger 4TH: Natalie Simon VAR: Sorin Stoica AVAR: Peter Manikowski Colorado Rapids vs Charlotte FC Dick’s Sporting Goods Park (9PM ET) REF: Ismir Pekmic AR1: Jason White AR2: Ian McKay 4TH: Drew Fischer VAR: Jorge Gonzalez AVAR: Jeff Muschik Portland Timbers vs Real Salt Lake Providence Park (10PM ET) REF: Chris Penso AR1: Ian Anderson AR2: Meghan Mullen 4TH: Andrew Bigelow VAR: Kevin Terry Jr AVAR: Eric Weisbrod San Jose Earthquakes vs Seattle Sounders PayPal Park (10PM ET) REF: Ted Unkel AR1: Jeremy Hanson AR2: Frank Anderson 4TH: Brandon Stevis VAR: Younes Marrakchi AVAR: Felisha Mariscal LA Galaxy vs Nashville Dignity Health Sports Park (10:30PM ET) REF: Allen Chapman AR1: Cameron Blanchard AR2: Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho 4TH: JC Griggs VAR: Kevin Stott AVAR: Rene Parra 04/24/22 Inter Miami vs Atlanta United DRV PNK Stadium (1PM ET) on ESPN REF: Jair Marrufo AR1: Jeff Hosking AR2: Kathryn Nesbitt 4TH: Nima Saghafi VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero AVAR: Jeff Muschik Orlando City vs New York Red Bulls Exploria Stadium (3:30PM ET) on ESPN REF: Alex Chilowicz AR1: Nick Uranga AR2: Micheal Barwegen 4TH: Tori Penso VAR: Timothy Ford AVAR: Mike Kampmeinert FC Cincinnati vs Los Angeles FC TQL Stadium (5PM ET) on FOX REF: Ismail Elfath AR1: Brian Dunn AR2: Diego Blas 4TH: Sergii Demianchuk VAR: Jorge Gonzalez AVAR: TJ Zablocki New York City FC vs Toronto FC Citi Field (5PM ET) REF: Rubiel Vazquez AR1: Cory Richardson AR2: Ryan Graves 4TH: Matt Thompson VAR: Armando Villarreal AVAR: Tom Supple
Petrescu with an interesting second caution. Player did slide in hard but there was no contact. https://www.mlssoccer.com/competitions/mls-regular-season/2022/matches/minvschi-04-23-2022/
here's a link the video https://www.mlssoccer.com/video/red...-federico-navarro-chicago-fire-fc-77th-minute
Seattle @ San Jose. Ruidiaz draws a PK. Defender gets yellow. VAR sends it down for review for a red card. Ted Unkel doesn't change the card after review. On the broadcast they kept showing an angle from midfield camera and I think it was a horrible angle to show the contact. Ruidiaz is lucky the studs slid off his shin as his leg was planted in the ground and wasn't going anywhere if the contact was an inch different. I was questioning whether it would be sent down as a clear and obvious error given the yellow. But it was.
Would like to hear some opinions on this....the announcers thought it was studs to knee and that it should have been upgraded to a red.
I am baffled too. Looks like a clear foul. I'm also surprised that the SJ-SEA review wasn't a red card. That looked pretty high. Hopefully it will be in the video for next week so we can figure out how he decided
I see no issue with this being a caution. It's a reckless slide with no chance to play the ball that only doesn't make contact (which would make this an easy yellow) because the attacker jumps in the air to avoid it, which is also stopping his promising attack as well, because if that reckless slide doesn't occur, the attacker was on his way to the box. I saw a similar no contact reckless slide attacker jumps out of the way caution given in a USOC highlight on here. These players shouldn't get to get bailed out of a reckless challenge just because the attacker has to contort to avoid it.
Reminder that all video reviews, even those not covered in the Inside Video Review video, are covered in PRO’s weekly The Definitive Angle article. That article gives PRO’s opinion on each video review.
Initial thoughts on Unkel and Marrufo, without seeing or hearing anything about the specific processes and knowing exactly which angles were shown at the RRA... My gut is Unkel's defense will be he couldn't quite tell how flush/direct the mode of contact was onto the leg. Yes, about 90% of what you need for a red card was clearly present there. But, once a yellow is given, if video can't prove the point of contact is flush instead of glancing, I think many referees might say the yellow isn't a clear mistake. Particularly in the 10th minute of a game where the player doesn't appear to be seriously injured and a penalty is already the result (not that a referee would ever consider those three factors, of course). All that said, I wouldn't be surprised if PRO said Unkel was wrong to stick with yellow. Seems a 50/50 call based on what PRO has said on similar SFP-esque challenges. I'm sure there will be a lot of internal discussion this week on that one. For Marrufo, I think he's completely right. Yes, there's contact. Yes, it's a foolish "challenge." But it's so, so, so soft, the contact itself is trifling relative to how it actually affected the attacker's run, and the attacker turns it into a massive swan dive with all the tell-tale signs of simulation. To use video review to pick out the one minor piece of contact and then turn it into a clear foul is... wrong. And good on Marrufo for sticking with what he had in real-time. I think PRO will support him. One very minor and funny thing I caught was in the 46' of Chilowicz's match. He gets hit with the ball and stops play for a dropped ball. Shows great interaction with players to manage it. Then he drops it and the Miami player touches it down with his hand as if he would to make sure that a quick free kick is stationary. Chilowicz simply let play go on without any fuss, though I'm sure it's the kind of thing that would cause borderline aneurysms for certain types of officials.
I'm pretty sure that PRO will say it should be a red card. From what it looks like they want the bar to be much lower for SFP than in years past. It has to "look and feel" like a red card. Not all the boxes have to be checked to give a red card for SFP via VAR unlike say DOGSO or offside. It doesn't have to be "clear and obvious."
But it does, right? Like the barometer for what constitutes "clear and obvious" on SFP VAR reviews has oscillated the past few years, but the standard does still exist. It's just a question of how clear something be to trigger the actual overturning. To the extent you're implying or asserting that VARs were instructed to be more liberal in what they sent down this year and to go more with their gut on plays that just looked/felt like red cards, you're absolutely correct. That happened and I think everyone involved knew it would lead to more send-downs for red cards this year. Figuring out how often that leads to actual red cards and how long any new standard sticks (like DTR and SPA initiatives) is still anyone's guess. I think PRO will say Unkel is wrong here. I don't know if PRO would say Unkel is wrong if he did the same exact thing come October.
Pekmic got body-checked by Kaye(?) in the Colorado-Charlotte game. Just two people trying to be in the same place at the same time during play but Pekmic had his back partially turned and didn't see it coming. Took a good tumble and Kaye (or whomever it was) did his best to check on him while not being distracted from the ongoing Charlotte possession.
The other issue with Unkel is that the review took 4-5 minutes.....foul is in the 10th minute, PK is taken in the 15th. That's waaaaaaaay too long....took 2-3 minutes before Unkel even went to the monitor.
Which isn't Unkel's fault. Not picking on you here, but we do have to assign blame correctly. Unkel--and every other MLS referee--goes to the monitor the moment the VAR says "I recommend a review for..." If it took three minutes for the VAR to say that, then that's on the VAR. Now, the caveat here is that the VAR is not just checking whether it's a red card. He's also spending some time with the AVAR checking whether or not there was an offside before the penalty was awarded; but that shouldn't take too long in this case. This could have been faster, definitely. But you've got a rare situation (SFP check on a penalty) which clouds the normal check on the penalty and the clearing of the APP. You then have a referee disagree with a recommendation, which will always take longer. And then there were discussions/protests/explanations after Unkel came back from the monitor. So this was always going to take longer than the ideal scenario.
Instant Replay is not a good barometer of MLS officiating on a week to week basis but I have to say some of the non-decisions they posted this week are really head scratching from a VAR and non-VAR perspective. The two incidents in Orlando. I mean the Ruan play is a red card. It's clearly deliberate. I can see the VAR not sending that down as you can make do some mental gymnastics that he didn't mean to step on his neck. But the penalty for handling? No VAR send down? The Nashville vs. LA penalty kick? How are you not getting that in real time and where is VAR? It's such a textbook penalty. Same thing with the foul in NYCFC and Toronto. The video shows that contact is clear. I don't think this was a good week for VAR.
There was no call on the field and VAR sent it down. It resulted in a penalty. Honestly, I actually think it's on the border. You can make a pretty decent argument that arm is where it's going to always be as part of a natural jumping motion. But we've seen those given somewhat regularly now, so it is what it is. Yeah, these two are bizarre. I thought the Morales red card in NYC would get a look. Honestly, I felt it was a mess. It doesn't seem like it's a foul. If it is a foul, it's DOGSO red. But Vazquez went 2CT so none of it could be reviewed. NYCFC won 5-4, so no harm, no foul in the match itself. But I'd be surprised if Webb and co. weren't getting an earful today on that one.
Early/mid second-half I think but I don't remember exactly. It was in the Rapids attacking half, closer to the center circle than the box. Play was coming up Charlotte's left side.
Still waiting on The Barkey Show, of course, but DisCo says SFP + Suspension on the Nathan/Ruidiaz (Unkel) incident - https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/san-...n-suspended-one-game-for-challenge-vs-seattle (The MLS writeup is weird - it reads to me to be saying that the rule they used involves simulation or embellishment, which isn't relevant here; it also says that PRO acknowledges the error.)
I don’t think they are saying anything relating to embellishment, just referring to a rule that also includes embellishment. (Of course, it could have been more clearly written—they must shar copy editors with IFAB…)
I think they're just trying to say that the DisCo acted on this missed red card because it was an issue of player safety. They can find/suspend in certain circumstances for simulation/embellishment as well, but that's not relevant here.
I think the relevant line that @seattlebeach pointed out is just a typo or a bad cut/paste job, honestly. Either way, yes, this previews what Barkey is likely to say tomorrow.
Yep - it's a typo or a repeated copy/paste mistake, because the same issue shows up on at least Week 6. The actual rule is at https://www.mlssoccer.com/about/competition-guidelines; the writeup is missing the words in bold - "and do not issue a red card or act on a case of clear and obvious simulation/embellishment" Yours in pedantry -