The crew for the 2024 MLS NEXT Pro Cup on Saturday, November 9, has been announced. The showpiece game between North Texas and Philadelphia Union II will kick off at 8:30PM ET at Toyota Stadium. North Texas vs Philadelphia Union II REF: Joshua Encarnacion AR1: Art Arustamyan AR2: Jeremy Smith 4TH: Jeremy Scheer RAR: Max Smith
I'd just like to say really good performance by the crew on the MLS Next Pro Final. Play was free-flowing and he stopped it when necessary. Ref didn't fall for any shenanigans inside the PA and get lured into penalty decisions. There was a nailed red card. AR1 had some really good offside delay decisions and AR2 had to help on a couple of penalty area decisions. Only thing was that both benches were really (obnoxiously) loud with flapping arms and shaking fists throughout the game. I would've loved to see someone sit one of the Philly asst coach down late in the 1st half when they were winning 2-0. It was nice to see this referee crew work though.
The crew for the 2024 USL Championship Final on Saturday, November 23, has been announced. The showpiece game between Colorado Springs Switchbacks and Rhode Island will kick off at 12PM ET at Weidner Field. Colorado Springs Switchbacks vs Rhode Island REF: Ricardo Fierro AR1: Stephen McGonagle AR2: Rhett Hammil 4TH: Abdou Ndiaye RAR: Darren Bandy The crew for the 2024 NWSL Championship on Saturday, November 23, has been announced. The showpiece game between Orlando Pride and Washington Spirit will kick off at 8PM ET at CPKC Stadium. Orlando Pride vs Washington Spirit REF: Alyssa Nichols AR1: Tiffini Turpin AR2: Brian Marshall 4TH: Brad Jensen VAR: Ekaterina Koroleva AVAR: John Krill RAR: Seth Barton
Both of the games referenced above will be televised tomorrow live on CBS. The NWSL Championship has a 30 minute pre-game show.
That was a pretty obvious foul, wasn't it? Did anyone understand Unkel's explanation? It sounded like it couldn't be called back because it was a "simple foul." What?
I *think* what Unkel is saying is that the foul didn't reach the threshold of something that can be overturned by VAR. That's not really how it came across.
The missed corner kick, yikes. Seemed like a PK on that late one. Defender not playing the ball falls backwards into the attacker. Other than those, she did well
The 2024 USL Championship Final was called extremely well. Well done to Fierro, McGonagle, Hammil and Ndiaye. Special kudos to Fierro who was excellent through out as the referee in the center. Notable moments include an advantage 30 seconds into the game that almost led to a goal. The 1st goal was from another advantage. The 2nd goal was a breakaway where Fierro anticipated quickly and it was just the attacker, Fierro and the keeper but quickly decelerated as to not get too close and let the defenders catch up. Gelled well with the crew, things went smoothly and overall had a great presence, authority and demeanor on the field. I expect him to become an MLS mainstay. Although, generally those who do the USL final become MLS referees...
Not always though. Kevin Terry Jr., Kevin Broadley, & Matt Thompson stick out in my mind in recent years. I'm sure there are others that didn't "Make it".
If there's one thing that seems like a good sign for Fierro in this case, it's that he's already been assigned 7 times more MLS whistles than those three combined. I would not be surprised to see him added to the MLS roster in the offseason.
And the blatant push in the face in the buildup to the game's lone goal. Ultimately, bad luck just caught with the Spirit. Three devastating injuries. Some calls last night that were just flat-out missed. That said, Orlando finished its one solid chance, while Washington had one great shot saved and otherwise squandered a lot of possession in the final third. The ref didn't change the outcome, per se, but it would've been nice to have had another goal in that game either way just to make the mistakes less impactful. But that's the tough thing about soccer, isn't it? If you're officiating a lacrosse game and miss a call, the final score might be 10-8 instead of 10-9. In a soccer game, it can be the difference between 0-0 and 1-0. All the more reason why teams really need to commit to the attack. Leave no doubt.
It's not exactly complimentary to say someone did well other than "missing" a foul that led to a championship game's only goal. For those who missed it, the play is at 2:34 of the video. I'm sure some will say it's not a foul at the pro level (men or women) or that it was embellished. It's another example where the 4th official is a decorative piece on these types of plays in the NWSL and only there to control the benches and subs. I agreed with the no-PK call late in the match in live action and even more on replay. It was a dive. The Spirit players were flopping the entire match, which didn't help their cause on the lone goal. I don't believe Nichols had a good final 10 minutes and not just the missed corner kicks. A player is wiped out in the 96th minute (not on the attached video) along the sideline on a frustration foul/retaliation and no card is issued, but a caution is issued only to the team bench (according to Unkel) for arguing the no-PK? The CBS camera cuts early so I'll leave open the possibility a caution was issued for both, but unlikely. Once Marta cleared the ball in the 100th minute, she should have ended the match. Instead, she waits to blow the final whistle until the defender is about to bring the ball to midfield. You do this in a men's match and you'll be mobbed by everyone. From a non-reffing standpoint, a bland game and nothing here to keep the average fan from watching, going up against college football. It was not a poor match, but far from aesthetic and more like a regular season game.
I'm torn on this now that I've looked. On the one hand, sure, she's absolutely embellishing. But, I mean, what on earth is Yates doing? She's not playing the ball. She's not really legally shielding. She has her arm wrapped low over the thigh of the attacker for a bit and just leans to a position (and falls down on her own) to create a situation where Kouassi physically can't get to the ball. In some ways, this is one of those cases where many of concede a foul just isn't going to be called if the attacker doesn't go down. So the attacker went down. I think part of me is of the opinion that there's clear embellishment, there was another Orlando player right there, and it's such a non-traditional play that you just can't/don't give this at that moment in such a match. But there's also a big part of me that thinks a professional defender just resorted to playground foolishness to unfairly disadvantage her opponent in one of the biggest matches they might ever play and at one of the most important junctures. I don't think I'd lose any sleep if this was given live and it certainly would need to be upheld via VAR. Unless there's a better replay, I have no idea whether or not there's enough to call an APP foul on the goal. Once not given live, the standard is supposed to be very high. So I wouldn't expect an intervention. But just like the penalty, a live call would appear to have been justified. My biggest question is the yellow at 42'. That looks horrendous. Did she avoid the flush mode of contact or was contact not as bad as it appears from the one replay in the highlight package? Because that looks like textbook SFP with the one available angle above--though, admittedly, like with the potential APP foul there is nowhere near enough evidence to say for sure.
Unkel's original explanation was "Fishing for it, looking for it...and that's fine". When prodded by the announcer for a clarification on why the defender's actions shouldn't be penalized as you're suggesting (which should have been done without a follow-up question), her response was simply "As a defender, you're not letting them get through in that regard". That's it? I thought Unkel was very good and a refreshing voice when she first came on the scene, correcting ignorance on the LOTG shown even by Henry in the Champions League matches in post-game segments. She was actually better in her rookie year than she is now where she seems to be rambling since she's on a time constraint to get her point across.
Maybe she's been hanging out with Dr. Joe. But I agree her input is a lot less valuable than it once was. Now it's just trying to justify what the referee did, whatever it happened to be. I admit to being biased, but for me the foul that led to the goal was quite clear. That was a two handed shove to get the opponent away from her.