Maybe, but I've met a lot of athletes over the years, and I've found most of them avoid punching down to the extent that Morgan and her teammates do. David Beckham is one of the nicest guys I've ever met. Earlier generations of women's national team players are generally respectful as well. UFC fighters are surprisingly reasonable. Not to generalize the other direction -- there are, of course, a lot of people whose competitive spirit boils over on occasion. And I'm a hypocrite because I'm a fan of both Duke (Coach K) and Liverpool (Klopp), neither of whom is known for being kind to refs.
I was (and still kind of am) a big Tony Meola fan growing up. But, my very best referee mentor, who has given me the most time and energy and help to making me a better official will often remind me of the US Open Cup game where he was the 4th official (at a USL venue) and Meola was resting that game for Kansas City. Anyway, if the story is as he purports to remember it, Mr. Meola was up and shouting at the referee or AR and so the 4th does his job and goes over to ask him to return to the technical area. And these are two men of Italian heritage, but allegedly, my hero Big Tony Meola says, to my best mentor... "Get back to your cage you F***ing Monkey!" When I first heard this story, I asked him if he was going to have the ref do something, and he just said, "they weren't paying me enough to make myself the star of the show that night." LOL. I think the pay was like $60 for 4th official back then. Maybe a little higher for an open cup... but couldn't be much more. Maybe he was wrong to take that approach, but it made a lot of sense to me.
Wise words. Nice guy, but just a local referee that’s never done anything more competitive than some local youth and HS matches and a few lower level amateur games. Never refereed at a high level and never been an instructor or mentor.
To be totally fair, it’s just human nature in general. You’ll meet some people who are great people, you’ll meet some…….not so nice people. I’ve worked in enough industries and done enough side hobbies that I’ve seen it all. Plus, my referee friends who do a lot of D1 women’s matches generally say the level of snark in those games is off the charts. So I’m guessing what we see with many USWNT players and NWSL players is an outgrowth of that.
Rumor has it PRO's opinion on the Morgan incident was missed PK and YC, with the slight contact on the ball being incidental to the reckless nature of the challenge.
It makes sense. It did not make PRO Week in Review. Is my memory mistaken that more plays where VAR did not intervene were discussed in the past compared to this year in both MLS and NWSL?
The print piece never addresses incidents that didn't go to review, though. The video segment does so once in a blue moon, but it is inconsistent to say the least.
PRO's VAR review for NWSL came out for Week 22 games. 2 of the 3 reviews (1st and last) were publicly opposed by PRO saying, in the 1st, the referee was correct to stick with their original decision and the 2nd, the Referee should have stuck with their original decision (and AR's). Not a fun week for NWSL the other week. How often does PRO publicly oppose reviews in the MLS?
I suspect the rate of wrong review recommendations is higher in NWSL than in MLS. You simply have less-experienced VARs working those games. Not sure of the exact stats in MLS. I think PRO tends to present them in one of the last Inside Video Review episode of the season each year.
We had the first round of MLS NEXT Pro playoff games this past weekend. Interesting structure that the league is testing out: 7 teams in each conference make the playoffs Best record gets a bye from the conference QFs The next two best records (sort of) get to choose their QF opponent, with the remaining teams playing each other. In the conference semifinals, the #1 seed gets to pick their opponent. Here were the assignments: (#3) Sporting KC II vs (#4) Austin FC II Austin won 2-0 REF: Brandon Stevis AR1: Noah Kenyawani AR2: Christian Clerc 4TH: Karen Callado (#4) New York Red Bulls II vs (#6) Chicago Fire II NYRB won 4-1 REF: Anya Voigt AR1: Brian Marshall AR2: Katarzyna Wasiak 4TH: Kevin Broadley (#3) Columbus Crew 2 vs (#5) Orlando City B Columbus won 2-1 REF: Abdou Ndiaye AR1: Nicholas Seymour AR2: Chris Canales 4TH: Laura Rodriguez (#5) St. Louis CITY 2 vs (#6) San Jose Earthquakes II San Jose won 2-0 REF: Alexandra Billeter AR1: Jennifer Garner AR2: Ben Rigel 4TH: Alexis Da Silva (#2) New England Revolution II vs (#7) Philadelphia Union II New England won 3-2 REF: Gerald Flores AR1: Mike Nickerson AR2: Art Arustamyan 4TH: Danielle Chesky (#2) Tacoma Defiance vs (#7) Houston Dynamo 2 Tacoma won 4-3 REF: Nabil Bensalah AR1: Stephen McGonagle AR2: Tiffini Turpin 4TH: Adorae Monroy I'm not sure whether there were any major referee controversies across the 6 matches, but I have been paying some attention to the league and didn't hear much myself. Wanted to get these postseason games on everyone's radar while the other professional leagues are gearing up for their postseason.
An update on VAR in NWSL. If true, only 6 cameras on Paramount televised matches, limiting the ability to have reverse-angle replays that we see in MLS matches: https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/38566958/nwsl-lacks-cameras-investment-var-fix-refereeing
The behind the goal camera is one of the most useful camera angles for PA decisions and for it having the reverse view of the referee. Craziness to think they don’t have that for VAR
it’s not. It’s all about cost. The league simply isn’t going to pay for extra cameras. They are adopting VAR to appease people and don’t want to spend money on it as the league has more important investments to make. Now whether it is crazy to have VAR in this context is a whole mother question.
Interesting Inside Video Review from NWSL this week: Sergii Demianchuk took a lot of convincing to change his penalty decision at the monitor, it sounded like he was going to stick with penalty, but then the VAR Luis Guardia changed his mind. Then there was a rare OFR for offside that the referee rejected because he felt that the offside position was not clear. Then the most interesting review, also from Demianchuk’s game. It looks like one of those standard top-of-foot-to-head high kicks that (for better or for worse) has been pretty consistently interpreted as a yellow card, historically. In his analysis before recommending the review, Guardia notes “we talked about this before this game,” emphasizing that the fouling player did not win the ball. Ultimately, Demianchuk stuck with his call. Barkey’s statement (read verbatim from The Definitive Angle) about this play seemed to leave some ambiguity about the correctness of the recommendation: there were “a mix of considerations”, but “A red card for serious foul play was the preferred outcome.” It sounds like maybe PRO as given recent instruction / emphasis on these plays? Finally, one review wasn’t shown in the video, also from the same game. The VAR recommended a review for an offside that was very obviously not in the APP (the defending team had a clean spell of possession afterwards). Thankfully, the crew realized in time that that offside was not reviewable, and the goal was awarded. The AR had a great onside decision on the final pass that did lead to a goal, by the way.
Help me out here. A freekick is about to take place. Referee stops freekick and game to address two players jostling in the box. Then the whistle sounds again restart ceremonial freekick. They jostle again and red goes down and yellow player gets a caution. But the restart is still the freekick? I can't seem to find it in the Laws of the Game where this ruling comes in to play. https://streamja.com/WbqGE
The ball was never in play. The restart cannot change based upon something that happens while the ball is not in play. “If the ball is out of play, play is restarted according to the previous decision.”
For some reason I thought the ball in play was when the official whistled the play to begin and not when the ball clearly moves. Going to get some sleep.
Thank you for posting this to induce the rage of professional players and commentators not knowing the basic fact that a ball not in play can't be a foul. And these are the people who criticize decisions. People answered above and very important to remember for all restarts. Ex. when kicking off, players running into the circle/half or defenders moving forward in a wall on a FK just because you blew the whistle, stop them and reset the restart. But of course there's also you blowing the whistle and them deliberately delaying taking the kick, which you then caution for DR.
And what are the narrow few examples on when a restart can change without the ball having been in play? (The answer used to be zero real ones and one trick one . . .)
2nd minute DOGSO red card by Joshua Encarnation in the MLS Next Pro Conference Semifinak between Colorado and San Jose. Excellent decision.