09/20/23 Charlotte FC vs Philadelphia Union Bank of America Stadium (7:30PM ET) REF: Guido Gonzales Jr AR1: Jason White AR2: Jeffrey Swartzel 4TH: Chris Penso VAR: Greg Dopka AVAR: Mike Kampmeinert Columbus Crew vs Chicago Fire Lower.com Field (7:30PM ET) REF: Ismir Pekmic AR1: Claudiu Badea AR2: Justin Howard 4TH: Marcos DeOliveira VAR: Younes Marrakchi AVAR: Fabio Tovar D.C. United vs Atlanta United Audi Field (7:30PM ET) REF: Lukasz Szpala AR1: Cory Richardson AR2: Adam Wienckowski 4TH: JC Griggs VAR: Allen Chapman AVAR: Gjovalin Bori Inter Miami vs Toronto FC DRV PNK Stadium (7:30PM ET) REF: Drew Fischer AR1: Kathryn Nesbitt AR2: Ryan Graves 4TH: Ted Unkel VAR: Sorin Stoica AVAR: Joshua Patlak CF Montréal vs FC Cincinnati Stade Saputo (7:30PM ET) REF: Jon Freemon AR1: Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho AR2: Eric Weisbrod 4TH: Mathieu Souare VAR: Luis Guardia AVAR: Jozef Batko New York City FC vs Orlando City Citi Field (7:30PM ET) REF: Ismail Elfath AR1: Gianni Facchini AR2: Chris Elliott 4TH: Tori Penso VAR: Jair Marrufo AVAR: Tyler Wyrostek New York Red Bulls vs Austin FC Red Bull Arena (7:30PM ET) REF: Nima Saghafi AR1: Logan Brown AR2: Meghan Mullen 4TH: Thomas Snyder VAR: Alejandro Mariscal AVAR: Tom Felice Houston Dynamo vs Vancouver Whitecaps Shell Energy Stadium (8:30PM ET) REF: Fotis Bazakos AR1: Ian McKay AR2: Diego Blas 4TH: Danielle Chesky VAR: Jorge Gonzalez AVAR: TJ Zablocki Sporting Kansas City vs Nashville Children’s Mercy Park (8:30PM ET) REF: Victor Rivas AR1: Kyle Atkins AR2: Noah Kenyawani 4TH: Armando Villarreal VAR: Edvin Jurisevic AVAR: Tom Supple St. Louis CITY vs Los Angeles FC CITY PARK (8:30PM ET) REF: Rubiel Vazquez AR1: Kevin Lock AR2: Matthew Nelson 4TH: Joe Dickerson VAR: Michael Radchuk AVAR: Corey Rockwell Colorado Rapids vs Seattle Sounders Dick’s Sporting Goods Park (9:30PM ET) REF: Filip Dujic AR1: Jeremy Hanson AR2: Jeffrey Greeson 4TH: Malik Badawi VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero AVAR: Robert Schaap Real Salt Lake vs FC Dallas America First Field (9:30PM ET) REF: Pierre-Luc Lauziere AR1: Cameron Blanchard AR2: Walt Heatherly 4TH: Brad Jensen VAR: Alex Chilowicz AVAR: Jose Da Silva LA Galaxy vs Minnesota United Dignity Health Sports Park (10:30PM ET) REF: Rosendo Mendoza AR1: Lyes Arfa AR2: Brooke Mayo 4TH: Mark Allatin VAR: Daniel Radford AVAR: Mike Kampmeinert Portland Timbers vs San Jose Earthquakes Providence Park (10:30PM ET) REF: Ramy Touchan AR1: Chris Wattam AR2: Mike Rottersman 4TH: Sergii Boiko VAR: Kevin Terry Jr AVAR: Tyler Wyrostek
I didn't like the penalty being waved off in Washington. Not happy with how things played out on VAR -- "OK, we've checked, it's a penalty, so line up ... oh, wait, NOW I'm going to go take a look" -- and not happy with the call. Stretched the definition of the phrase "interfering with play."
Good stoppage time penalties by Freemon and Gonzalez Jr. which each led to the equalizing goal in their respective games.
100% correct decisions in both cases but I have to ask why were those challenges made at all? Maybe fatigue is setting in? gutting way to give up an equalizer in both cases but just remarkably poor judgement.
Touchan rejects the on-field review for a PK call in Portland, sticking with his original no-call. I'm a bit on the fence about it. To me it's in the category of "soft foul, but a foul". I think Touchan bailed the San Jose defender out a bit -- the contact was pretty clear. 100% a tripping foul anywhere else on the field.
Ignore my earlier comment. There’s absolutely no foul in the upper body on this play, now that I have looked at it closely. He’s touching his arm, nothing more. Where it gets interesting is the lower body. There is slight contact between the attacker’s right foot and the defender’s left hip, but it’s really soft and to me it looks like the attacker is the one causing the contact. At the end of the day, “no clear and obvious error” on the on-field decision of penalty and YC is probably correct, so I’m not surprised Pekmic stuck with his decision after the OFR, but this is a really soft foul if you ask me.
Meanwhile, in Salt Lake --- holy cow. https://reddit.com/r/MLS/s/aNi97SuE7w Yellow card on the field -- then he goes to the monitor and keeps that decision. To me, this is a bad miss in real time. And an absolute baffling decision to keep with the decision after VAR. I get that there's been a little bit of softening the last few years on studs up tackles requiring a red, and some emphasis on really paying attention to force of the impact. But this is an easy one.
Not the best angle here, and only seeing slow mo doesn’t help, but I went and looked at the rest from the broadcast, and yeah, it’s super clear red. It’s studs to knee with a lot of speed. He doesn’t pull out. I’m shocked by this decision.
The audio there is going to be fascinating. Marrakchi is essentially saying "this isn't a foul if you called a hold." Pekmic is saying "I've still got a foul." At that point... does the OFR to recommend "not a foul" become an OFR to recommend "well, if it's a foul, it's red?" It's a weird one--at least procedurally. I also think the first OFR to give the penalty was soft and not quite at "clearly wrong." I think there's a chance PRO will agree, but given the result and the lack of attention on it and that both VAR and CR agreed... I'm probably either wrong or you won't hear about it publicly even if I'm right.
Another one where the audio is going to be fascinating, but not to figure out what we're missing. Just to figure out how he justified what has to--has to be--the incorrect outcome.
I've never been that impressed with Pierre-Luc Lauziere. I understand that you have to have Canadian referees in MLS, but with the exception of Fischer and Petrescu, none of the others have really been any good. You go back to the beginning of when they came into the league, it's been a rotating cast of really mediocre referees. Paul Ward, Geoff Gamble, etc. Pierre-Luc Lauziere seems to fall into that category as well. From what I've seen so far off Djuic he has a chance to be better than most of the other Canadian referees we've seen in MLS over the years. Anyone have an explanation or is the sample size just too small to make a definite conclusion?
It really depends what foul Pekmic called live. I have to imagine he called it a trip in real time, because otherwise I can’t imagine how he would go with a yellow card on such a blatant OGSO. The communication must have been weird though, because the review seems to be focused on the upper body at first. My theory is that, one way or another, Marrakchi didn’t originally get the information that Pekmic was calling it a trip, which brought Pekmic to the monitor to look at the upper body, and then during the OFR Pekmic finally asked him to look at the lower body.
This is effectively what happened. Pekmic ultimately was calling the trip. Whether or not that's what he called live OR there was enough of a "trip" to warrant sticking with the call... well, those are different questions. But ultimately, the penalty and DOGSO-yellow were upheld by him due to a trip.
It was a rather complicated offside that needed multiple angles to confirm, which is why it took so long. Remember that the veracity of the penalty decision is being checked first. So that got dispensed with. Then the APP is checked. The idea that the players lined up shouldn't be indicative of anything here--in theory, players are supposed to line up immediately when any penalty is called! It's just that the dissent usually takes up the first 45 seconds or so. Because this check had two somewhat complicated components, it just took a lot longer. You had two attackers clearly in an offside position. Then it became a question of #4 challenging for the ball. You can say it "stretches the definition" of interfering with play, but it doesn't. He challenged an opponent for the ball. And made physical contact, which isn't even necessary but certainly icing on the cake. You (and others) probably don't like it because a different attacker headed the ball, but it's actually 100% within the framework of interfering with play. It's a textbook example. It's only weird because another (onside) DCU player was also challenging and actually played the ball. With all that said... while it was complicated and correct, it still did take too long!
Would you be happier with “challenges an opponent”? Guy in an OSP clearly jumps and tries to play the ball. The really isn’t any more than that here. Also, it’s pretty standard to go ahead and line up for the penalty while you wait for the check complete. Most penalties are correctly given
Lack of force. Bent leg. I am informed now that those are the arguments. Take that for what you will.
There were eight reviews last night. Four OFRs were rejected. For one matchday, both "8" and "50%" are big numbers. I don't want to suggest the wheels are coming off, but it's possible things aren't trending well right now. Particularly that 50% figure.
It's been trending that way for seemingly the last month or so. A lot of reviews and a lot of bad processes in those reviews by the VARs and referees. It also doesn't help that PRO is hedging on some of the OFRs for violent conduct and serious foul play. Basically saying, "correct recommendation with correct outcome" even though the referee didn't change their decision." So you're encouraging both VAR and referee to keep doing what they've been doing.