Brian Hall and other MLS refs (Brian Kennedy one of them) worked the CC Final today at Estadio Azteca between Club America vs Toluca. The reputation of American refs will probably get worse as Hall allowed an obvious offside goal which makes this a dirty final. Toluca took the lead in the first overtime (tied 0-0 at that point), then America equalized by a player that was offside by half a mile. The Toluca GK got out of his place and complained to the flagman on how he could have missed such an easy offside (and it was, the Toluca players were in line) but Brian Hall let the goal remain. After that tensions got heated, 2 players given reds for pushing and shoving, a bunch of Toluca's staff sent off by Hall for complaining, the whole ordeal probably the longest 2 min's of Brian Hall's ref life. Good thing it didn't get any worse it was only 2 players that pushed and shoved and the Toluca player managed to slap the America player as he was leaving the stadium. America scores on the second overtime, win game 2-1. Brian Hall being chased by Toluca staff members and coach demanding an explanation for the travesty. He is going to watch the video and see how bad of an offside it was. Another bad day for American refs.
Re: Brian Hall at CC final [R] The announcers themselves, on FSE, made a comment similar to yours - about being the longest 2 minutes of Hall's life. I thought it showed great class on the announcer's behalf to not clearly call out Hall for being 'an American ref' - but they did state that major games like this can not continue with these refs from inferior leagues. If you did not see it, I would consider it as bad a call in a final as I have ever seen. And the lack of control he had over the remainder of the match was embarrasing.
Wait a minute, where was the AR with the clear view of the offside from? I've never seen him at an MLS game before. It's not Hall's job to call the offsides when his AR has a clear unobstructed view, which Hall at the top of the box didn't because there are players in the way and there is no way he can see all the way across the field to see who kept the goalscorer onside, and keeps his flag down. The Linesman flatout blew that call. I thought Hall did very well with the Kleber goal he disallowed because Kleber held his marker. That game could of gotten more out of hand, notice how the Toluca staff surrounded Kennedy after Hall had left the sideline and as soon as he came back they scurried.
Saw the goal replay... Wow... Just... wow. But isn't it the sideline ref's call? Is it Hall's responsibility? And although Toluca got juked in this case, they were the maaaaajor recipients of even worse ref'ing in the Apertura final this past fall, when the ref red-carded 3 Tigres (Monterrey) players in the finale.
I beleive the center ref can overturn an assistants call. That, that was just awful. Toluca had every right to be pissed.
Yes, it should be noted that the sideline ref directly blew that call, not so much Brian Hall himself. What made the situation really wacky was the way Hall lost control of the game for the remaining minutes. (But now that I think about it, anybody in the stadium could have seen that play was offsides...it wasn't off of a corner or a direct kick. In the run of play, pretty much anybody could have seen it. 'Un fuera de lugar mas grande que el Azteca...' - to quote the announcers.)
Brian Hall has been a ticking time bomb for a long time now. Not just the phantom foul in Chicago-DC playoff last year, not just the invented penalty that gifted Chivas a win in the Interliga (and allowed them to go to Libertadores), but now this. And there have been many others. The man simply isn't fit to ref anymore. I don't recall him making as many mistakes in his whole career as he's made in the last year or two.
Everyone watching is seeing it from above---Hall is on the same level as the players and there are players in the way. Refing is done by a team of Refs and the Major Ref has to DEPEND on his assistants to do their job. That he did not overturn the AR's bad call was NOT Brian Halls fault. He's a human being with two eyes and can only see and do so much. The Assistant Ref has to make the call is the one at fault.
Brian Hall was dead to me after what he did to my team last year. I didn't catch the first 18 minutes of the game and when I saw him at first I had no idea who he was, which at the time was "Dead to me", and at first I though he was english. I'd never defend this man in my life but I'll defend the concept of a center ref deffering to his assitants for offside calls when they have a clear view.
Personally it was not Brian Hall that lost control of this match. He did everything right in my opinion. He gave straight reds to players that were obviously more interested in knocking eachother around than actually playing a game. The two teams obviously tried to take advantage of what they perceive as a foreign coach from an "inferior league". What I saw on the pitch was not an inferior ref but rather inferior hotheads acting like total dipsh!ts running around punching eachother. Then the coach of America I believe said something along the lines of he thought the ref was too hasty bringing out straight reds for the infractions... HAHAHAHAHA! Wow. ok. whatever.
Brian "no call" Hall is a terrible ref and should not be doing any games. Especially after the phantom call denying fire goal in first fire -dc playoff game.
I did not see the game. There is a similar thread in the referee forum. From one fellow referee's point of view, there was certainly an offside player, but he was not involved in the play! He didn't interfere with the keeper, and, as far as they could tell, did NOT touch the ball. Therefore, no offside involvement, no offside call required, GOAL!
What does this have to do with Major League Soccer? Brian Hall and Kevin Stott call lots of overseas games.
Yeah, but it's the AR's job. CR's are very, very cautious about overturning their teammates' call. It's like the Spanish or Italian (forget which) fans bashing Byron Moreno for some bad calls made by his AR. It's retarded.
I just saw the highlight. Kleber touched the ball. He celebrated as if he scored the goal and the TV broadcast credited him with the goal. So, I can see two reasons the officials might not have called offside: 1.) they knew Kleber touched it, but somehow failed to notice that he was a good yard or so past the second-to-last defender when the ball was played by his teammate; or 2.) they knew Kleber was in an offside position but didn't think he touched it and didn't believe he was interfering with play. I would have been more sympathetic to the officials if the explanation was #2 except that the touch looked pretty obvious. In any case, I blame the AR more than Hall. Of course there's always the chance of explanation 3: some defender outside the camera shot was holding Kleber onside. I doubt it.
What the hell are you talking about? Offside is a decision for the AR, not the center. Yes, it's true, the center can overrule him, but why would he? If the AR's in perfect position, the referee has no reason to do so. You can't blame the ref because one of his assistants screws the pooch. What the hell do you people do... see Brian Hall's name, and fill in details on a pre-printed form about how bad he is? Jesus.
I have to agree, Brian Hall has to trust the judgement of his AR. And YES the assitant did screw the pooch!
Yeah. .... you make some excellent points ... hell, who am I kidding, I never got past your avatar. WOW!
well, if the point was to make as many Mexican fans as pissed as possible...Hallshould have used his *cough* talent *cough* helping Toluca, not Club America....
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