The SFP red card… eek. and finally… we got the mass confrontation coming. Hilarious he couldn’t get the card out. And cautioned Pulisic rightfully so… wheels falling off on this one. Another red card for dogso-f. At least he got the card out this time!
I must have missed the instruction where, during a MC, we just pull out the yellow card and wave it around. Learn something new every day…
Very disappointing performance by Ramos. Never seemed in charge of the game and both fouls and cautions seemed inconsistent. Very excessive gamesmanship allowed at restarts, including turning his back and jogging away from a FK while an opponent was standing over the ball trying to stop the FK. Mixed with a horrific field to give us true CONCACAF.
At what point do you take field conditions into account when everyone is sliding around like that? I think red is right but just playing devil's advocate here.
In a cluster%^$& of a game, at least I think he got both red cards right... I don't have any clue what the commentators were seeing on the red against Arriola. I'm a US fan, and it was an absolutely clear high spike to around below the knee...
The fan forum (like the announcers) seems unanimous that the potential handball was a clear PK. I'm not interested in jumping into that fray, but curious what others here thought.
It's a deflection from about a yard away. The arm is over his head. That doesn't get me there 100%, but it takes me pretty far down the road. He's also moving his hand toward the ball when the contact happens. I think with VAR, it's a PK. Without, who knows? It's CONCACAAF, Jake.
100% PK. He's jumping with his arm nearly vertical. My take-away here is that the elite referees have become so accustomed to giving those via VAR that they are not as good at discerning them in real-time. That's a penalty. Ramos and/or his AR should have had that. It's a big miss.
Can I ask why not? Specifically, how would you argue his arm over his head isn't "unnaturally bigger?"
I'll push the distance guideline aside as this defender was closely marking the player with his arm outstretch well before the header / deflection came from the cross. In this overall context, he knew what he was doing, trying to obscure vision, though that action comes with a risk. Though, overall, I expect this not to be called live 70% of the time prior to VAR, as its difficult to pick up, and the general nature to avoid giving a penalty, even though it should be called. With VAR, these seem to be awarded 90%+ of time.
With any competent/good VAR, it's 100%. As for the age prior to VAR, we also can't forget that it coincided with an era where the instructions around handling were different. Indeed, we've gone through like 3 revisions/tweaks since the advent of VAR. My point here would be that the instruction/guidance around this sort of handball is crystal clear now and I'd expect most referees today at professional settings below VAR-levels to get this right. I honestly don't have much excuse for the miss other than laziness or lack of focus.
I think what some people would point out on this challenge is that it didn't actually contact anywhere near the knee and any contact appeared to be more on the ankle area. But, that said, the tackle itself was "knee-high" and the contact only occurred where it did because the opponent was jumping to get out of the way. It's one of those where the nature of the challenge is ugly and certainly warranting a red card for SFP by the book. But, we've strayed away from punishing the nature of the challenge at these levels. And the focus has been--like it or not--more about the result. And the result here is minimal or glancing contact at a point low on the leg. I think the expectation in UEFA would be a yellow here and definitely only a yellow in EPL. So it's one of those very rare/weird situations where a CONCACAF referee is seen as over-punishing a foul tackle. When you add in the field conditions and the general sloppiness and physicality of the game, I think some sense of grievance from US fans is warranted. Long way of saying it's a fine theoretical red, but I think for practical purposes it made much more sense as a yellow card last night.
Straight from a US header. 3:16 here: I'm telling you, it would be one of the fastest VAR interventions in MLS if this went uncalled live.
Because I can see a circumstance where a player is jumping, using their arms to get height, and that "naturally" gets their arms over their head. I think that normally still results in "biggering" as I understand it, but I hate to be an absolutist.
Fair enough. Though I think you'd have to be close to an absolutist in the VOR. The only scenario I could see would be a situation where the arm goes up over the head due to contact from an opponent. And that didn't happen here.
I'd have to look at the replay again, but I thought the contact was high on the shin below the knee. As a matter of fact, I thought Ramos was pointing out a stud mark as the player laid on the ground, to Christian as he was protesting the call. Another issue, as a non-ref, is that the foul immediately came after loss of possession, and so appeared frustration generated, as opposed to a good faith attempt to tackle. As usual, my biggest problem with the CONCACAF refereeing, is failing to protect our players from persistent infringement. But that's a windmill that ain't gonna be jousted effectively...