09/07/2024 Columbus Crew vs Seattle Sounders Lower.com Field (7:30PM ET) REF: Rosendo Mendoza AR1: Cory Richardson AR2: Kevin Lock 4TH: Marcos DeOliveira VAR: Daniel Radford AVAR: Tom Supple New England Revolution vs St Louis CITY Gillette Stadium (7:30PM ET) REF: Timothy Ford AR1: Andrew Bigelow AR2: Brian Dunn 4TH: Mark Allatin VAR: Luis Guardia AVAR: Mike Kampmeinert New York Red Bulls vs Sporting Kansas City Red Bull Arena (7:30PM ET) REF: Ramy Touchan AR1: Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho AR2: Matthew Nelson 4TH: Sergii Boiko VAR: Kevin Terry Jr AVAR: TJ Zablocki Chicago Fire vs D.C. United SeatGeek Stadium (8:30PM ET) REF: Fotis Bazakos AR1: Micheal Barwegen AR2: Jeffrey Swartzel 4TH: Alexis Da Silva VAR: Carol Anne Chenard AVAR: Fabio Tovar Houston Dynamo vs Los Angeles FC Shell Energy Stadium (8:30PM ET) REF: Guido Gonzales Jr AR1: Kyle Atkins AR2: Corey Parker 4TH: Chris Penso VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero AVAR: Jozef Batko Vancouver Whitecaps vs FC Dallas BC Place (10:30PM ET) REF: Allen Chapman AR1: Corey Rockwell AR2: Nick Uranga 4TH: Victor Rivas VAR: Daniel Radford AVAR: Mike Kampmeinert
Some observations from the early slate of games, actually quite a few interesting talking points: 1) Columbus vs Seattle 40’+3’ red card to CLB GK on his league debut. Any word on if this was for DOGSO or for SFP? Personally I think the case for DOGSO is rather weak as the ball goes high, straight up into the air, with an attacker and a defender both straight under it. SFP could be justified by the forceful contact between the goalkeeper’s arm and the attacker’s head, though tbh I’d be surprised if the referee was able to perceive that in real time. This call was especially consequential because Columbus did not have a backup goalkeeper on their bench, so they had to put a field player in goal. The results went about as well as you’d guess. 2) NE vs STL 2.1) starting from the 72’: New England try to make a sub, but the player runs the long way off the field and doesn’t exit within 10 seconds, so they must play a man short for a minute. During this period, STL scored the equalizing goal. 2.2 and 2.3) starting from the 79’: handball shout in the STL penalty area, then play continues through the 80’ and STL attack the NE penalty area. There’s a fairly clear foul by an attacker in the penalty area close to AR2 Brian Dunn, who flags for the foul immediately. But Tim Ford doesn’t stop play until a few seconds later when the ball is in the back of the net. Was it good choice to delay and let VAR check the foul? Or was the delay overzealous? Or was the delay not even intentional, which I suggest because Ford didn’t seem to react to the flag right away. Then there’s a really long VAR check which eventually sends Ford to the monitor for the earlier handball. He retains his original decision and restarts with a DFK for NE. I actually quite agree with Twellman’s analysis of the handball (broken clock etc etc): the arm does make the defender’s body bigger, but is it really unnatural? I think it’s subjective, and Ford agreed that the position was “justifiable.” 3) 2CT to SKC in 90’+2’ for SPA. I wish we got better replays ok this because it looked like an obvious foul in real time, but the replays we did get leave me with doubts.
Just watched the press conference, absolute clown show from Porter. How can he use the word “accountability” against the referee when he goes on to outright refuse to take the just blame for the failed substitution? He claims that Langoni was too injured to “sprint” (it was not anything close to a sprint lol) the “40 yards” off the field. Which is funny because the pitch is only 75 yards wide so do the math on what that implies. In reality, it was probably well more than 40 yards because Langoni chose to go almost all the way across the field instead of to go off on the nearer touchline. Talk about lack of accountability, geez Louise, that mistake is 3000% on Langoni and especially on the coaching staff for not prepping their new guy on MLS specific rules. I really wish a reporter had had the gusto to ask Porter a follow up question about why Langoni went the long way off the field! “Coach Porter, would Langoni have been able to leave the field in 10 seconds if he left at the nearer touchline?” “Coach Porter, follow up question, has the coaching staff failed to teach Langoni to leave the field in that manner, or did Langoni fail to follow your instructions?” I hope the league drops the hammer on this guy for, if nothing else, the sheer ridiculousness of this complaint.
Besides not blowing the whistle, I have no problem with Ford's decisions here. Honestly, I think the handling could have gone either way.
It's simply not DOGSO. The ball is cleanly played away by an opponent before there's any contact. The question of whether or not it's actually SFP is an interesting one. Watching with a non-referee friend who is usually very reasonable on officiating and a good barometer for me on "what does football expect," he just couldn't get there--at all. The result is bad and the keeper, to an extent, is out of control. And you have contact to the head. But does it actually feel like SFP? I think that's harder to say and I think a lot of neutrals see a bad result from an inevitable collision. It's one of those where you are punishing a keeper differently but you're only punishing him differently because he's done something that no field player would ever do. I think, ultimately, it's a "challenge that endangered the safety of an opponent" and in the referee world that's more than enough for a red card. But getting the non-referee world there is tough, I think.
I think the contact to the head is what makes it SFP to me, given how head contact has been called in recent years. Otherwise I get where others are coming from saying it shouldn't be a red for SFP.
There was actually an inkling (half of an inkling, really) that Morris was offside in the buildup to that play. He wasn't, but let's assume for a moment that he had been. If that play is offside, VAR could take a DOGSO red card off the board because the play is over at the point of the offside violation. But if that's a SFP red card, which is what we all think it is, even if it had been off, SFP is SFP and there's no review, correct?
Correct. However… given the injuries and how long Mendoza had to show red, one thing to consider here is that Mendoza would have known it was offside before he ever produced the red (just as he knew it was onside last night). It obviously shouldn’t change the decision or the result, but I can imagine a few brain cells moving a decision toward yellow for some referees in such a case if the foul wasn’t stone-cold SFP or VC. Along these lines, I actually wonder when Mendoza told his crew he was going red. Actually, I more wonder about when De Olivieria should have told Nancy, if at all. Because they were talking a ton and he clearly reacted with surprise when red was finally shown. Given the time issue and the fact that a substitution was going to be required, that seems inefficient at best. And dishonest at worst. But maybe there were other issues at play that I’m unaware of.
I don't mind him holding the whistle on the second foul that was flagged by the AR. He lets the play continue and now it falls under the VAR so they can review that play as well. I feel like MLS is asking refs to hold the whistle just in case. And they're asking ARs to hold the flags also. Maybe the AR should have held the flag and allowed the play to finish for a cleaner decision by the referee here.
Maybe he got a "Delay" from the VAR booth? THen he would've surely had to give the decision on the field while communicating with the VAR
Well the point here is there’s nothing to delay relative to the offside if the card isn’t for DOGSO. If he’s saying the card is for SFP, the play can’t even be checked. Technically. But all this presupposes almost robot-like communication limited to VAR and CR. It depends some on the referee but for a play like this, particularly with DOGSO and offside live questions, you’re going to get more input. And there was a lot of time to work things out. Long way of saying I feel like there could have been options on the table if this had, indeed been offside. Not sure Mendoza would have pursued them at all. But they would have been there.
I may be wrong, but I thought part of the issue was that he never indicated the foul until after the handling review at the other end.
Sorry, yes. Of course. But I thought we/you were talking about the potential offside component of it all. I guess I don't understand what you're suggesting. Why/how would he get a "delay" before he communicated the decision to them? Also, the "delay" is about delaying the restart. There was obviously no restart to delay. I'm not following.
Bazakos showing Mateusz Klich of DC United a yellow card for what I am guessing is time wasting while he was asking for a Chicago Fire player to give him the full 10 yards on a corner kick (the Fire player was clearly inside the hash mark) during second half stoppage time was certainly a choice, especially since Klich is now suspended for this weekend's match as a result.
This was horrendous on the part of VAR. They ignore all protocol. There is no way in hell that the original non-call was clear error. VAR sent this down hoping the CR would re-referee the call. That’s not what VAR was intended for.
That's back to back games Tim Ford rejected a handling OFR from VAR. The one last week PRO specifically stated Ford's original on field decision was correct during Inside Video Review.
Then why are they being sent down as clear error? The standard is not “there might be a foul, look at it again and tell us what you think.”
Any ownership for a player knowing hes on accumulation to not play silly games at the end of a match? First, it’s an arc and if he’s in at all it isn’t by much. Second, he wouldn’t have been in at all until Klich faked the restart to bait him. Blame Bazakos all you want but you gotta wonder if the extra 2 seconds they would have gotten out of that was worth the risk.
Gutierrez is moving in before Klich even "baited" him. And then he made zero effort to go back once Klich stopped.
Did Bazakos give the other 4 cautions as well? If so, then we may have an issue. But something tells me Klich earned them himself.
I noticed most of your posts are in the fan forum so maybe your opinion is skewed here. Based on an earlier thread I’m happy for your engagement but you might find the regular posters here less sympathetic to your referee gripes.