Sauro definitely slapped him in the head. Contact was light, but it was still contact above the shoulders. Not a surprise to me that nothing was done though. When CLB #8 was allowed to commit as many hard fouls as he wanted with impunity it was clear Chapman had no interest in controlling the game. And then it just got worse from there. On the Vela thing it was more of fend off to the chest and then Beckerman flopping to make it look worse than it was. The RSL players were mugging him at every opportunity including the lead up to this incident. In addition to throw stuff on the field the LA fans decided to do their chant at the end of the game several times. The broadcasters seemed pretty disgusted. But it's another one of those cases where the referee could act but in most cases doesn't and just lets the league deal with it after the fact. LA's supporters certainly didn't cover themselves in glory at any point.
No matter who is in charge of PRO/MLS referees and no matter how much better the refereeing is generally getting every year, it's the same ol' song and dance come playoff time every year like clockwork. Hear no evil and see no evil and keep 11 vs. 11 at all costs. Granted MLS referees aren't the only ones guilty of this. We saw it at the World Cup and we are starting to see it creep into the Champions League as well. How that isn't a second caution on Herrera for a clothesline I have no idea...
Interesting that Sauro slap didn't make Instant Replay. It felt exactly like some of the early VC red cards via VAR... I distinctly remember one from Elfath. It's very frustrating. Either VR is supposed to catch and punish all VC or not. I reluctantly accept and understand the grey area with SFP via VAR, but VC in most cases should be pretty easy.
Unfortunately. Wasn’t it an MLS playoff game that had a word for word textbook example of circumventing the backpass law that was blatantly ignored.
Did the TV feed catch the origins of that dustup, in that arguably both Columbus coach Greg Berhalter and DC player Luciano Acosta should have been ejected? There were numerous times during the match where I simply couldn't believe that players on either team didn't get a card. Chapman was so disappointing last night. He let so much go on both sides it was just unreal. And despite the fact that both teams seemed tired and slow to me compared to usual, Chapman always seemed a long, long way away from the play -- a lot of what he let go doubtless occurred because he wasn't anywhere nearby.
I think these were two different dust-ups, if I recall correctly. I'm talking about one more in the middle of the pitch. I can't remember if it was late first half of ET or into the second half of it. A player was down for an injury when it happened, I believe. The Acosta-Berhalter incident was caught by the cameras. Acosta definitely pushed him. Heat of the moment in a playoff setting and given Chapman's line for the rest of the match, I don't think that can ever be a send off. And then once you don't send him, you're in this weird zone where it becomes tricky to justify a UB caution for a physical confrontation with a non-player. So path of least resistance leads to a talking-to. I can accept that.
There is nothing in the Laws that says any physical contact with a non-player is a send off (or even a caution). It is a send off if, ITOOTR, it is violent conduct. The standard usually applied to non-players is pretty low, as there should be no contact, but that doesn't mean Laws are being ignored if the R decides it doesn't rise to that level.) At the levels I do, I would certainly caution if I wasn't going to send off--but I also get what MR is saying about the oddity of a caution in that context.
Let's not be sensational here. First, the Laws don't actually say "you can never put a hand on a coach," so the second point here really doesn't apply. Second and more to the point, we're talking about a light push as Acosta entered the technical area to try to keep the ball in play. It was reactionary and not premeditated. If you can watch that play and tell me Acosta should have been sent off for VC and DC should have played 10 v 11 for his actions, that's your prerogative. But blanket statements implying or asserting the Laws state any physical contact with the hands of a player and the body of a coach require a send off aren't grounded in fact. And third... guess what? Professional soccer is entertainment. I think I have a pretty good track record of wanting appropriate discipline on the field. But there has to be common sense, too. We're throwing a player out and having his team play down a man in a single-elimination playoff game because he got in a brief dust-up with the opposing coach who wasn't blameless in the affair? Okay... so now it's open season on coaches baiting opposing players so they can get an 11 v 10 advantage. Now who's entertained?
My apologies my comment was meant in jest. I certainly understand there are grey areas but if the opposing player or coach is laying hands on each other during a confrontation I’d find myself very unlikely to treat it as anything other than a send off or dismissal. The mere fact that they are in contact means one either left the field or the other entered, neither of which should be overlooked as a pretty important detail.
You should see the play before commenting further, because this is not an important detail at all. The ball was going toward the touch line and technical area and Acosta was chasing it down along with an opponent before it went out of play. It was perfectly natural and honestly unavoidable for him to do anything but run into the technical area.
FWIW (since you quoted me), I personally didn't mean to suggest that the LotG said so -- just that I had (apparently incorrectly) thought that was a standard interpretation.
I guess I will never really understand the "entertainment" argument used by the league(s)/referee orgs when it comes to enforcing the LotG in the professional soccer environment. Who is entertained by allowing everything? To me it has always felt more like no one wanting to take responsibility.
To be clear on my position above, I’m only commenting on the technical area scrap specifically. It’s not an endorsement of how Chapman handled the entire match.
I haven't seen the video of the Acosta incident, but a red card there seems overly harsh. I'm all for more red cards at the professional level, but I don't think I would ask for a red at the amateur level there. I think it is disappointing that no caution was given and that Berhalter wasn't dismissed, but a red card would be overly harsh on any professional match much less a playoff match.
Through the lens of a referee that makes sense. But no matter what leagues and fans say, they love controversy.
If a player and coach deserve equal punishment and would have both gotten yellows if both were players, I don't think the player should get a red because the other person was a coach. I'd be more apt to give straight reds for actions against coaches who didn't do anything wrong.
Yep, they've had several AVAR assignments since September. Johnson is injured so that's why you haven't seen him either.