2023 MLS Week 15 Referee Discussion

I think this is the 3rd or 4th time this season that Nesbitt has been with Fischer.

@MassachusettsRef may well know, but is there a chance that Fischer and Nesbitt are part of a trio for 2026? I'm assuming Canada will have an on-field referee presence.

 

I thought Claudiu Badea had moved exclusively to VAR duties?

 

While this is indeed the debut for Nickerson, this is not Felice's first MLS match, or even his first as AR.

 

I think this is possible, but I'd prefer to see Nesbitt with Barton like she was on the R16 World Cup match. As an unabashed Barton fan, I feel like he's a dark horse semifinal possibility for 2026 if he continues on his trajectory. However, his usual ARs are just not up to international standard. If there's a way to get top-quality Mexican or American ARs comfortable with him for key international matchups, I'd like to see that happen. I know that is tough to do in CONCACAF because MLS and Liga MX dominate the continental club competitions and Mexico and the US are major players for the international team competitions, but if there's a way to make that happen I'd like to see that.

 

Good for Mike. I know he's OH-S now, but grew up in Michigan and played for the Jags, back when I was actually reffing youth games.

I think this is Balcer's third? fourth? assignment. I'll never find the thread about the CBA; how many games do you do before PRO has to decide to either include you or stop using you?

 

Is there a reason why MLS doesn’t keep a crew together all year? I’m not sure about the other sports but I know NFL crews I believe are together all season

 

It’s 10 but in one cba and resets in between

 

There are many reasons. Crews would frequently get split up because of international assignments, personal blocks, injury, for example. NFL refs work one day a week and can feed their families on their money where as MLS ARs cannot. As such, the expectation is those guys work all 17 of their weeks and that is not the expectation in the MLS.

Probably more important, there is great value in working with many officials. Imagine the learning a young AR gets when he/she works with Ismail and Corey Parker? Or imagine the support a young ref gets when they work with Corey Rockwell or one of the andersons.

 

I'm not sure if this is still the case, but in the past the NFL crews generally stayed together most the season, BUT they split them up for the Super Bowl (and possibly playoffs). So "you're a team and it's great you work well together" but "we're splitting up all that up for the big game".

 

Highly questionable 2nd yellow issued to Joao Paolo in Seattle-NY Red Bulls.....definitely a foul, but nowhere near severe enough to be a YC....just a run-of-the-mill foul.

 

I dunno, a week or two after there was a missed 2CT for SPA, that one looked pretty expected based on the short replay I caught

 

I’m not sure if it was a foul, but if it was indeed a foul it was absolutely SPA.

Looking at the replays a few times, I think this was a case of feeling a little contact and dropping immediately.

 

That's the 2nd coach I've seen publicly throw Boiko under the bus in 3 weeks.

His first time when he refereed Birmingham Legion in the USL Championship back in early May and the head coach had some pretty fine-worthy comments about Boiko.

How often do coaches get fined for post-game comments?

 

Without any question. I’d like to see him get more than a game, but he likely won't get any suspension. At a minimum, he should get the standard MLS one-game suspension for OFFINABUS, similar to what you'd see for a retrospective red card.

 

Watching the replay of this game. Any comments from Sartini on his keeper looking like a U13 Rec keeper on the first STL goal? If I were him, I’d be a lot more worried about his keeper making his team play like a man down than the perception of the referee playing for the other team.

 

That is not accurate. The individual fines are in addition to team discipline. It was decided that fining individual players in addition to the team and the head coach would be more of a deterrent. There is an escalating system in place where each subsequent violation by the team results in fines to the club and the head coach, in addition to any individual players who are found guilty. There is no team fine in this instance because it was their first violation of the season. Subsequent violations result in fines to the team and the head coach.

 

Correct, although you will note that the fine to the coach was not for violation of mass confrontation, but rather for comments he made post-game questioning the integrity of the referee.