10/30/22 Los Angeles FC vs Austin FC Banc of California Stadium (3PM ET) REF: Armando Villarreal AR1: Corey Parker AR2: Jeremy Kieso 4TH: Rubiel Vazquez VAR: Timothy Ford AVAR: TJ Zablocki Philadelphia Union vs New York City FC Subaru Park (8PM ET) REF: Allen Chapman AR1: Kyle Atkins AR2: Cameron Blanchard 4TH: Victor Rivas VAR: Edvin Jurisevic AVAR: Tom Supple
With Parker and Atkins in this round, I wonder if Elfath is still the favorite for MLS Cup. Perhaps Unkel gets it?
I don’t think so. Rockwell was AR of the year and Ian Anderson is another popular name and if I was betting, my money would be on them. I never thought that we’d see ish in the final but there just aren’t any other options left. It’s between him and Dickerson and I don’t believe it’s Dickerson. Looks like he’ll get his final without his two ARs
Assuming it is Elfath for the final (and I have to think it is), why would PRO/MLS not have him work with his two World Cup ARs? I think the world of both Rockwell and Anderson, but I’d think you want your World Cup team on a big showcase event.
The other guys are essentially tied to Elfath once at the WC, right? So you the extent you’re making a statement for FIFA, Elfath’s appointment is enough. And you’re only doing that to some extent anyway. Elfath’s appointment wasn’t guaranteed here. And once it apparently came to fruition, that doesn’t mean better performing ARs should get sidelined. After all, PRO is about MLS and rewarding its best performers. Moreover, Rockwell and Anderson have suffered their own disappointments and to the extent this is some compensation, too, that’s a great thing.
Absolutely very interesting, it’s a huge decision. I don’t like the intervention there. I think you can argue that in theory it’s a penalty because the defender does make contact with his studs to the top of the boot, but really it’s mostly glancing contact and pretty much just on the toe. There’s really not very much contact in it, so I think no call is definitely a justifiable decision that I wouldn’t lose any sleep over, and perhaps it’s even the preferred decision (especially given PRO’s demonstrated preference for leniency in the playoffs).
I wouldn't be spiking the football on this one. I mean, the referee team failed to identify that as a potential head injury on their own? Play was restarted and he was allowed to stay because... his opponent got cautioned? Yeesh. And how does it take until after the assessment and restart to realize more examination was needed? Palacios looked like was knocked out cold. And you could see on the first replay where the contact was. So officiating team fails to intervene. Medical let's play restart and then intervenes. And holds him for, a minute? I don't know, man. If this was a star in the NFL we'd be hearing about how poorly the NFL handled it--particularly if he got injured again. As it stands, I'll be interested in hearing about Palacios condition in the coming days. As for the refereeing side of things, it would never happen here in this moment and this match, but... how strong is the argument for SFP red? It's a late shoulder charge into the head. I don't see much mitigation besides "it's a playoff match."
That's a 100% penalty and a yellow card in any UEFA match right now. And I'm talking about via VAR as well. To the extent it's okay because it's consistent with a line set in the playoffs so far, well, I get what @StarTime is saying. But the flip side of that is we have seen VAR used for handballs that, well, most people would be fine with letting go. This was a foul. And it's instructed in most major worldwide competitions as a caution. This is where the use of VAR loses its credibility, in my opinion. You can't say you're correcting clear errors and then not correct them because the stakes are too high or the moment too big. "Clear and obvious" shouldn't be situational. The more I've watched it, the more surprised I am that it wasn't given.
No and no. But apparently down the stretch he had a very high missed KMI rate--I've both heard that and, well, he did have a lot of VAR interventions in the final couple months. If there's anything else at play, I don't know. But his playoff participation was limited to the VAR booth and I think based on how he performed overall this season and which matches he was given, that is a relatively big surprise.
The league mandates that play be a potential red card in the regular season and Chapman can't even bother to produce a yellow. So ridiculous.
Yeah, I don't know what to say there. I thought he was waiting for an early "check complete" so he could confidently show the yellow. Given what was demanded this year in the regular season, no card simply isn't credible.
We all know that teams scout their referees, and this game definitely feels like the result of two teams who know, through empirical research, that prison rules would be in effect. I’ll admit, it’s been fun to watch. And it’s probably exactly what Chapman, PRO, and MLS wanted. But it feels so wrong to me. Everything that PRO worked on during the season, out the window…
Boy that offside decision was close but I think they got it right EDIT: none of the available angles were good but nothing approaching C&O error by any means. Would have liked a better camera angle but nothing to send down from what I saw
I don't think it was all that close. The broadcast opted to freeze the play well after the header. The defender's trail leg seemed to be more than keeping the goalscorer onside--the penalty spot was a pretty good reference. Maybe the angles are deceiving me, but I'd say he's on by a good margin. Regardless, always impressive to get that call right in real time. Whether it's close or not with the benefit of replay, it certainly looks much different in real-time.
Union score back-to-back goals to take a 2-1 lead in the 67th minute.Subaru Park is electric ⚡️🎥 @MLS | @PhilaUnion pic.twitter.com/FVgO7kfvRp— The Athletic Soccer (@TheAthleticSCCR) October 31, 2022 Pretty clearly not offside. Agree it was not that close
I'll just say that when I wrote it, I was pleased that the independent medical was willing to swallow their pride and get involved, even if they were late. That said, I posted it while the check was ongoing and should have waited. I have my concerns in hindsight as to why the player was allowed to return so quickly after he appeared to be lying on the ground motionless for as long as he was. So, I probably was premature in posting this.