December 6 – 3:00 PM ET Columbus Crew SC vs. New England Revolution MAPFRE Stadium – Columbus TV: ABC, TSN Referee: Armando Villarreal Assistant Referees: Frank Anderson, Eric Weisbrod 4th Official: Robert Sibiga VAR: Jon Freemon December 7 – 9:30 PM ET Seattle Sounders FC vs. Minnesota United Lumen Field – Seattle TV: FS1, TSN Referee: Ismail Elfath Assistant Referees: Corey Rockwell, Cameron Blanchard 4th Official: Joseph Dickerson VAR: Timothy Ford
December 7 – 9:30 PM ET Seattle Sounders FC vs. Minnesota United Lumen Field – Seattle TV: FS1, TSN Referee: Ismail Elfath Well, that makes the MLS Cup final referee choice an interesting one (adding into MassRef's post last week that there was one referee who would be a surprise omission from the playoff list).
Marriufo-Fischer-Penso seems like the Ref-4th-VAR combo. Parker one AR. Little more doubt over the other two positions.
Sorry, Vazquez was my surprise omission based on everyone’s posts in that thread—everyone expected him to get a QF. I’ve got no doubt about MLS Cup now. Would be shocked to see anything other than Marrufo.
Makes sense, and now I remember that either you specifically mentioned Vazquez or I put two and two together (coffee hasn't kicked in yet, and I'm too lazy to go back and look ). And honestly, I'm not surprised about it. Vazquez has always underwhelmed me (and I'm being somewhat diplomatic there). Marrufo also makes total sense - it gives MLS its incumbent World Cup referee and the presumed heir apparent the two tournament finals for the league in 2020.
Vazquez had a CONCACAF game a couple of days ago, not sure if that had anything to do with his MLS assignments.
These are both surprising assignments IMO. The referee of the year award winner not calling MLS Cup is virtually unheard of in the PRO era, but also Villarreal will have Columbus twice in a row, which is not typically something that is allowed to happen. Ford as the VAR for Seattle is going to get me so many stupid tweets in my mentions. I can't wait.
While it has happened a number of times within the regular season, across seasons, or from regular season to playoffs, this is indeed the first time an MLS team has ever had the same referee for consecutive games in a single edition of the MLS Cup Playoffs.
There has been a last minute change 12/07/20 – Western Conference Final Seattle Sounders vs Minnesota United Lumen Field (9:30PM ET) REF: Ismail Elfath AR1: Andrew Bigelow AR2: Cameron Blanchard 4TH: Joe Dickerson VAR: Tim Ford
Since I suppose the assignment could come as early as tomorrow, I'll predict MLS Cup is: Marrufo-Parker-Nesbitt-Fischer-Penso-Blanchard On another note, good start from Elfath so far in the first 10 minutes with the early caution, which he set up well.
Rare occurrence where the commentator (Stu Holden in this case) and I disagree on the color of the card and I think the color should be yellow. I thought the O'Neill challenge was borderline, but proper to call a caution. Wouldn't have been terribly upset with a send-off, but the contact appeared to be more on the foot than higher on the ankle. Definitely not a clear and obvious error to overturn. I agree with MassRef - Elfath has been sharp through the first half-hour.
I find myself leaning towards red, but it's certainly acceptable to go yellow to me. And it's certainly not something the VAR should get involved with regardless of what had been called. It's squarely an ITOOTR.
I’m also leaning more red, it heavily depends on the point of contact for me. If it’s foot, yellow is enough. Any higher, red.
At live speed, I thought the contact was on the foot. The first replay I saw wasn't conclusive in my opinion. Definitely one where some referees will go red and others yellow. Had Elfath gone back pocket, I wouldn't have been overly surprised about it. Just saw the replay again on FS1's halftime. Looking at that again, red would not have been a bad call at all. Contact appeared to be just above the tongue of the shoe. Still not clearly and obviously a wrong call, but I lean much more red than I did 20 minutes ago.
Basically this is the answer. Few years back, pretty easy red. Today's game at the top level--more of a yellow. And even more of a yellow in MLS playoffs. Oh, and definitely not a VAR intervention based on PRO standards on SFP. But it just needed to be a little higher, have a little more force, the leg be a little straigher or for the contact to be a little more flush with studs in order for it to get pretty close to a no-questions-asked red. This was close, but not quite there given the details and the circumstances. I know, I know, "intent doesn't matter." But it sort of does (at least as a factor to consider on borderline caes) at this level and in a match like this, and you can discern from everything (0-0 match in a conference final under 30 minutes in) that there was no true intent to commit the sort of foul tackle that would injure an opponent. It was over-exuberant. It was ugly. And it, ultimately, was dangerous. So it pushed the limits of reckless but it didn't have to be red and, if it doesn't have to be red in this match, it won't be.
That’s literally impossible, as Elfath is a heretic who keeps his red card in his shirt pocket [emoji13]
Very unimportant to the game--but does the long sleeve black uniform look...weird to anyone else? I can't tell why I became so fixated on it in Elfath's game, but it just looks strangely un-refereeish to me...kind of like he's wearing something that is supposed to go under his uniform.
Interesting. Would like to see that a couple more times. Threshold needs to be high and that would be a penalty from not much, but seemed a good argument for a foul.
Sure looks like Gasper got his leg from behind. Would have been a gutsy call to make, but I think it was a penalty. And add me to the chorus that the black long-sleeve look is a great look. To this day, if I can wear black (and particularly long-sleeve black) for a big game, I'll do it.
It's probably a penalty I would give. Clear and obvious error? I dunno. He could have followed through the opponent more than he did, I suppose.
I like plenty of black kits but and I like this one too, but I have to agree with the comment that it just looks off. I think it’s for the reason that there’s really no details or texturing or logos on the kit like you see on the USSF, Macron, etc. It does kind of look like a plain sweater to me, but still nice overall.