2023-24 CONCACAF Referee Discussion [Rs]

Good OFR to give the goal at 56' in JAM-CAN but not sure it should have taken one.
Canada was caught sleeping on this; maybe Mayo was too?

 

That can be confusing but there's a non-trivial delay with the stadium acoustics.

 

Definitely didn't need an OFR for this.

It's an objective decision.

 

I don't disagree, that's why I noted that the audio feed may have been a little off.

 

Anyone know when Corey Rockwell's last international match as a FIFA assistant referee is? Or did he already have it?

 

Dest just got double dissent 2YC in 20 seconds arguing a missed foul and a ball out for a throw in. The whole team was shooting at him to stop.

EDIT
Yc 1 = he punted the ball into the stands

YC2 = as he was getting the yc, he blew the ref a two handed kiss.

 

Maybe they miss the leadership of players like McKennie and Pulisic.

 

I cannot think of an example of a dumber send off in a national team game.

 

Offhand, I can't think of anything dumber than what I witnessed with Dest.

 

I am a big proponent of not blaming the refs for the things that players do, especially off-the-ball stuff like this, that it's not the ref's fault for penalizing a player's actions.

However, this seemed like baiting Dest into a second. He could have easily stopped at 14 seconds when Musah is trying to stop him from getting closer, shown the yellow, said something to Dest like "please stay calm", and left. Why the hell is he stalking a clearly upset Dest another 10 yards down the field and then getting DIRECTLY in his face at the 22-23 second mark?

Don't get me wrong, Dest is completely in the wrong, and even his teammates are kicking his ass about his behavior. But the referee did not help matters one bit and instead inflamed the situation.

 

The reactions of the US players say everything.

 

Dest fully deserved the two yellow cards for his actions. Kicking ball away and blowing kisses, easy DR and dissent yellows. And of course his teammates will only blame him for it.

I just don’t agree with Lopez actions. The USA players gave him an out from the second yellow when Musah was trying to block him from coming closer and the blonde guy was trying to usher Dest out of the situation. They were trying to do what they should to players in those situations, forcing him away to keep the peace. He could have walked away and let the teammates handle it, and only gone back to give the second yellow if Dest yells something at him walking away which would be no problem. It was Lopez who basically acted as an instigator rather than trying to avoid giving it by following him down the field and even got right in his face.

Feels like (a much lesser form of) the situation where an upset losing player begins confronting the referee postgame to blame him for this and that where no resolution will be made and the ref stands there and engages with him rather than ignoring or leaving the situation, and then engaging ends up with the player using a swear word that gets him a red card. Deserved, yes, but could have been avoided by less confrontational refereeing.

 

It's the referee's fault for a player's behavior?

Uuh, ok.

 

Lopez might have seen fit to handle this differently if Dest did the more of the run of the mill signs of dissent such as spiking the ball into the ground, or kicking it into the ad boards. Those pop up quite frequently. Show the card from a distance and move on, nothing more to do there.

Though, picking it up and punting it into the stands was just so far outside the norms even for dissent, that seemed to compel Lopez to take a far more visible action in handling the situation.

 

Lopez standard practice seemed to be running towards everything, whether necessary or not.

Might not be the style I would prefer, but also step back. A professional player who punts the ball in dissent knows he is getting a card and makes the choice to do it to show displeasure. It is not expected that a professional player will lose his $sa& when he gets the card he asked for.

 

I think it's interesting that the only place there is any discussion of the referee during this game is on this forum. I mean, I'm all for dissecting and even criticizing when appropriate but it doesn't seem like there is much here to discuss. Could Lopez have done things differently? Sure. Would it have made any difference whatsoever? Almost certainly not.

@USSF REF asked what Dest's teammates did here. I mean, exactly. The USA loses a game that they were highly favored to win due to a first half sending off and none of the US players or technical staff is criticizing the referee.

Not sure you need to say anything else

 

I don't think any is saying that Dest didn't deserve a double yellow.

There is a good argument, made by some on this page, that there's a lesson for refs here that you may not need to run up to a player and get in his face even if he's being a jerk to you - everyone knows who's getting a yellow, give the yellow and hope that Reyna/Musah/Ream/Turner get Dest calmed down. But once Lopez was up close and getting berated like that - can't say he was wrong.

The US forums do have a lot of reffing commentary about Trinidad committing a huge number of borderline yellow card fouls - four by Alvin Jones against Brenden alone - but those are not solely sour grapes, but also related to player safety. The card situation relative to the frequency and severity of the fouls didn't come very close to evening out, and everyone's fortunate that the rough play doesn't seem to have wound up with anything more than soreness-type injuries.

 

There were multiple YCs for deliberate holding not given that should have been, but this is normal for Concacaf, not really worthy of even discussing because it's so typical to see these games called like this. The players would know this too.

Dest was way out of line and I don't think it's worth doing this whole "the ref causes the yc by admonishing the player." Dest was being petulant and it is up to him to show self discipline. If we're going to discuss Lopez it ought not to be about the Dest situation.

 

Really excited for Mexico-Honduras in Nations League tonight. Honduras with a 2-0 aggregate lead and one foot into the door of Copa America, but Mexico at home surely won’t make it easy for them. On paper it seems like a very challenging game to referee. And I think this is Barton’s first time seeing Mexico’s national team since that four-red-card Nations League semifinal five months ago. Let’s see how he does.