Exactly. Better to card the offenders (in my opinion) and send a message early, and put the onus on the players to adjust, than to let it get chippy and spend 75 minutes trying to put the genie back in the bottle.
If this had come from anybody other than Beckham, quite literally one of the worst tacklers I've ever seen as he always comes in late and he always goes more for the legs than the ball, then maybe his comments would hold some weight, but they didn't so they don't. But of course during the Portland game tonight we have to hear both Harkes and Lalas ramble on and on about the refs just because poster boy Beckham has an issue with it. Yes there has been a sharp increase in cards issued but doesn't it seem a bit more rational to think that there have simply been more card worthy actions lately, instead of a crisis surrounding the quality of the refs?
Ok guys let's not focus on the Beckham part too much. Obviously he deserved every yellow he got and maybe he should have been given a couple reds but he is right. There have been a several games so far where the reffing has been atrocious. Colorado just got one of those calls with Espindola off by a mile. Even Garber made it a point to say that he is trying to do what he can but MLS doesn't have anything to do with the refs.
Becks literally doesn't have a leg to stand on here. His tackle in that match was atrocious...........borderline between a yellow and a red. And if you look at all of his other carded offenses this season, they were all warranted. I literally think people see Beckahm out there in an MLS uniform........swoon, and get a little dizzy......and don't actually watch his performances. He's been an average MLS midfielder this season, and possibly below average. Fans and players in every league whine about the refs. Watch the Premier League, presumably the best league in the world, and they make mistakes all the time. Get on with it..............
The commentators in particular. They get so enthralled with "Bending it like Beckham" that when he muffs 19 of 20 free kicks on goal, they literally sit there silent and just say..."Goal kick for the (opposing team)". I'm sure the league has said something to them about criticizing him for lack of tarnishing his god-like status, but just ONCE I'd like to see someone in the booth get some balls and call him out for his average free kick (on goal anyway) taking ability, Alexi would, so would Wyno if given the chance I bet. The dude has been sub-par for YEARS now, in multiple facets of the game, and world class in none. If he ever gets any more caps from England, they will be out of pity.
Okay, I'm a Rapids fan, and while I was pissed off at the lack of an offside call there, I can easily understand why the AR got it wrong. There are quite a few reasons that I could think of that would explain why he got that one wrong. I also think that it's tough for any of us to criticize the refs because lots of us generally don't know what we're talking about when it comes to refereeing. Fans, players, commentators, coaches - none of them have shown that they have knowledge of the laws. Fans: there was a lot of complaining about Omar Bravo's red card and Koffie's red card, even though both were the right call. Players aren't great at knowing the rules either: see Hassli, Eric. Commentators get it wrong all the time, especially if it's Efan Ekoku. During the ESPN halftime segment where Alexi Lalas was complaining about the referees, three clips were shown - Hassli's shirt removal and second yellow, Shalrie Joseph getting a red for poking Beckerman in the face, and Beckham's yellow for his tackle on Josh Wolff. The only controversial one of those was the last one, because the referee wasn't harsh enough. Coaches: just look at Sir Alex Ferguson and how he whines if the referee doesn't call something in his favor. Now, I'm not saying that the refs are perfect. Far from it. And I'm not saying that we shouldn't complain when the refs get things wrong. We need to realize where we're deficient in our knowledge of the rules, though, and stop jumping to the conclusion that "the ref got it wrong!" quite so quickly. Heck, for 10 minutes, everyone, especially John Harkes, was angry at the referee last night for disallowing Kenny Cooper's goal for a foul. And then we discovered that the ball went out of bounds on the corner kick and the AR flagged it immediately. What Alexi Lalas pointed out last night is that red cards are up ~100% and yellows up ~33% compared to this point last year. However, that's not an indicator that the referees are worse. It could mean that the players are playing more aggressively. It could mean that the referees are doing a better job at identifying aggressive play and are trying to punish it accordingly, which means the refs are actually doing better than they were last year. A lot of complaints in past years is that MLS is too physical and thuggish - shouldn't we be happy the refs are clamping down on it? This is starting to turn into rambling - but I'll leave it at this - everyone seems awfully quick to jump on the referees for supposedly getting things wrong, and each little (supposed) mistake seems to be an indicator that it's worse than ever. Is it? Maybe. But if we're to make that judgment, we need to know what we're talking about, and so far, the people complaining the most are the ones with the least knowledge.
He won't get back in the England squad. They don't normally want 36 year old midfielders that can't run, tackle, defend, etc. And now for a David Beckham joke: David Beckham is celebrating; "43 days, 43 days!" he shouts happilly. Posh asks him why hes celebrating. He answers "Well Honey, I've done this jigsaw in only 43 days." "And that's good?" asks Posh. "You bet Hon" says David."It says 3 to 6 years on the box."
I agree wholeheartedly. Each call is independent and stands on its own merits. The 3 they showed has nothing to do with bad reffing. He took his shirt off, poking a face, and a tackle from behind are all cardable. My issue is not the amount of calls but just glaring missed calls one or two a game that impacts the outcome. Charlie Davies's dive and Kenny Coopers assault on Sean Johnson for the 4th goal was laughable. I know because I laughed out loud for 20 seconds on how bad that call was. Cooper jumped into Johnson with his body, raked his hands across Johnson's arms to dislodge the ball as he was catching it, making a little contact with the ball with his hand, landed on him, then proceeded to tumble over the top of him getting intertangled with his legs. There was 4 fouls on Cooper and a hand ball that all went uncalled. It looked like Cooper intentionally barrelled into him but Ref didn't see it, didn't care, just didn't call it. It was a border line yellow call on Cooper for going in so hard along with the Karate chop. Then gave a yellow to a Fire player for complaining. I felt bad for Chicago for such a blatent non-call.
Beckham has never been relied on for pace in all his years playing for top clubs. Jeez, that's seriously common knowledge. Do people actually think he's ever been known for speed? The qualities he's always been known for is delivery from wide positions, set-pieces, and an ability to keep the ball. That has not changed. He can still do this as those 'within the sport' have attested. It's entirely plausible Beckham could be called up to the England squad if he is in form. Teddy for example had substitute caps till he was 36, as a striker no doubt.
Sure there were some laughable bad calls............but there also are in the premier league, La Liga, Bundesliga, etc. The ref doesn't get the benefit of the angle we see during the match. Maybe his view was blocked (I didn't see this particular Cooper incident). He doesn't get the benefit of slo-mo replay, so that we can see what each of Cooper's nose hairs was doing during the incident. And refs get the dive in the box call wrong every weekend in every league. When I watch MLS, I think the refs are bad...........but fans in Italy, Argentina, and Spain think the same thing about their refs. Whining about the refs is a universal experience in football. Beckham should be trying to help his club average more than one goal a game, rather than whining endlessly about how they're getting burnt by bad reffing calls. I just feel like telling him to shut up and play. Try oh try to show us that you're worth the absolute fortune the club is paying you.
Wow. Lots of utter guff in this thread. Where to start? I get the feeling that more people would be in agreement if these comments had come from a different player. Beckham has pretty much deserved his yellows and we all know about the red he escaped the other day. I actually think refs get a bad rap. We get incensed for any individual mistake thay make, even though we weren't sure until we got the slo-mo replay. However, while we ALL bitch about refs regardless of league, the MLS group are on a whole other level. I've watched countless games where the refereeing is as erratic as it is error-strewn, so while Beckham deserves his cards and more, he's also got a point about the refereeing. Lalas is an idiot, but don't think he'd ever stand up for Beckham out of him being a "poster boy". The man is nothing but critical of the player. Beckham's talent: No he hasn't been past it and crap since 2007. He was injured during his first MLS season. He was poor in the second half of 2008 and woefully disinterested. He shafted his team over the AC Milan thing, though he did fine while he was there. He also did fine upon his return to the Galaxy. His performances after returning from injury last season were very solid and helped the team out of a dire slump. This season however, he has been very iffy. It's not down to the positioning of players or the failure of his teammates to read his passes. Against Seattle he had an awful game, not just for a superstar, or a DP but for anybody in the league. From what I have seen this season, I do believe he's declined significantly at this point. But the MLS refs are disproportionately crap, so let's not allow any hatred for Beckham or the Galaxy deflect that point.
It sure has for the people who care to actually WATCH the games and not just anoint David the king of all things set piece because he has a trademark stance before he takes each one. So stupid.
To say every country hates their refs, and every country has bad calls to me is simple dismissive non analysis. I watch enough Top European soccer to know that no really they don't make as many absurd calls or non-calls. I do think its fashionable to count cards and ridicule MLS calls. For the most part I agree with most of the card calls, to me its those 2 or 3 calls a game that impact a low scoring game as it is. The refs as in the players just have more experience and are better at their craft. I hope we can shift the discussion from all calls are bad to really which calls are bad and why. For me its not the calls its the non calls. To say someone must have been out of position and blocked is kind of my point. Its the reason for the non call and not the excuse.
Or maybe he was blinking or thinking of sunshine on a beach. It was so bad that its something he can't miss. With that logic every call can cognitively be dismissed. Oh well he got punched but Ref must have been blocked. It was to one side of the goal and was jumping while doing his karate chop down after hitting his hip. Just bad, no excuses. http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/tVBFS_T9-3n/Chicago+Fire+v+Portland+Timbers/_pxiq_aFrVR Found a new one where he's holding S.Johnson's arm down with both arms. I missed it so this is his 5th foul on Johnson in 2 seconds. Plus the hand ball. In conclusion 1-Hip 2-Left Arm Karate Chop 3-Two arm grab of Johnson's Right Arm 4-Stepping on Johnson 5-Tumbling Over Johnson http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/tVBFS_T9-3n/Chicago+Fire+v+Portland+Timbers/ciMEIH3JaKY
You are crazy. I am no Beckham fan but you can't deny that this year he has had some nice free kicks. He hasn't put one in yet but he has been very, very close. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYht2pmqSoc"]YouTube - Beckham Free kick[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVgjcgv4bsk"]YouTube - David Beckham free kick against Toronto FC April 13 2011[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P61pKFfjFc"]YouTube - David Beckham Free Kick LA Galaxy vs New England Revolution[/ame]
Wow. Those were some of the prettiest misses I've ever seen. Tell me -- how much extra would the Galaxy have to pay him to actually score those?
There's a difference between not relying on pace, and not being able to keep up with the game. On an international level, I'm sure Beckham is on the not able to keep up with the game side.
...except for the fact that international and European football is usually played at a much slower pace than MLS and the EPL. Beckham's lack of pace has been talked about since at least 2006 yet McClaren, Capello and AC Milan's rotating door of managers have seemed to consider him fit for top class football.