Yeah he hand balled it, but there were so many other things about the game that caused us to lose that game, not following runners, laziness in the first half, and a lack of urgency in the last 10 mins. Sure it was a handball, but do you think any Wizard player would have stopped playing the ball? I know they would go to goal the same way Eskandarian did. Yeah it was a bad call, but we had chances to get that goal back, we just didn't finish.
We wouldn't have been chasing the game if we were up a man in the first half tied at 1-1. He wouldn't have been in the game to make the run that caused the own goal either. Completely changed everything.
Since I can't edit my post, I'll just paste what I typed to you in PM. "I misspoke out of anger. I felt Eskandarian got away with multiple cardable offenses today. I know an intentional handball is only straight red if doing what Dema did, but between the yellow he should have gotten for cleating Bo and his intentional handball he lost my respect today." He's still an ass.
And that's a fair opinion for you to have, but clearly his offense at the time was in no way worthy of a sending off. Although I am trying not to troll, I understand that anything I say probably will be taken as such, so I'm going to go ahead and get out of here now. Congratulations on another solid year, and a valiantly played Cup final.
Now if he would have gotten a yellow for the handball and another yellow for stepping on Bo, he would have played himself off the field. After the red for the handball on the line, I was amazed at how the United players were grabbing at Kennedy. In the NFL there is no touching of the refs. Is there such a rule in the MLS? Trolling is not in itself wrong, but gloating and rubbing it in is not. There is a seperate thread for that. Thanks for the Congratulations. DC just seemed to want it more today.
Eski didn't step on Bo. His own player, Nick Garcia did. It happened right in front of us. And players from both teams jostled with the ref after that.
How about a little Splenda for those sour grapes...the ball played Alecko. He pulled his arm in as he charged the ball. It was a defensible interpretation of the LoTG. As for Dema's handball...that call was correct. My wife and I were hooting and hollering when Dema protested. But face it, KC was totally out of it until Dema got the Red Card. I am really looking forward to the Wizards move to Rochester in '05 or '06 so they will have an SSS.
DC fans should celebrate their team's victory. They earned it. However, they would be well advised to keep their mouths shut about SSS. They will be the only team sharing a stadium with a baseball team and they have no prospects for a SSS.
Why is his hand above his head? They have no business up there if you new anything about soccer you would have known that. Now go back to the Waging Whino's forum would ya.
Um, that part wasn't sarcastic (the Splenda part was). I really am looking forward to the Wizards moving to Rochester and being renamed the Raging Rhinos.
It should have been a hand ball, but it should not have been a card. It should have been a hand ball, just because he had his hand up. professional players know better than that. When I do a U-10 game I'm yelling constantly, keep the hands down. So, it should have been a hand ball, but not a card. And the play happened so quick and his hand was so close to his body, that you can't fault a ref for missing it. The ref probably started downfield on his diagonal, not expecting it to be anything other than a normal clearance. And besides, Jimmy should have just cleared it better. And that non-call would be about reason #406 why we lost the game. (reason #1 being that we couldn't put more than 3 passes together all game)
I think Alecko had his arm up in the air for balance because he was jumping in the air at the time. However, as he is quoted in a postgame interview, he just did what he learned as a youth player and that is to play until something is called. He also had the apparent foresight not to react as if his hand was set on fire when the ball hit it.
rocketeer, If your hand moved towards the flight path of the ball as Eski's did--assuming the ref sees it--it's almost always going to get called, whatever the reason. MtMike, Class response. Typical case of "making your own luck." It was indeed a bad call--I'll even go so far as to say the ref should have suspected it by the very fact that it bounced down, which is pretty difficult to do with the head given a moment's reaction time and moving at full speed--but Eski put himself in position with extra effort to take advantage of it (and had a nice finish to boot), and Conrad put himself in position to be victimized with his dodgy clearance. And a bad call is not the same thing as gift-wrapping the game, which I think the ref did not do.
I don't think D.C.'s handball last week against the Revs was intentional. However, they gained advantage from it, and it was inside the box, so the Revs got a PK. Alecko knew what he was doing. There's no reason to have your hand where he did.
That's not the rules of the game. I thought it was a good call because Carroll's arms weren't in a natural position. There's a reason guys in a wall don't just raise their arms to make themselves bigger. I can't stress this enough..."gaining advantage" has nothing whatsoever to do with whether a particular play is handling or not.
\ I also am smart enough to see that the ref had no choice but to call it. Carroll's arm was already away from his body. I don't think he forced his hand towards the ball, so as a fan I didn't think he "intentionally" hit the ball. However, I also know that the ref needed to call it because of the advantage gained and where his hand was when it struck it. The ruling was that it was intentional obviously, but to me it was just bad luck. Alecko was closing down space between he and Conrad, leaped forward, hands away from his body and played the ball down to himself with his hand. There is a difference to me in this, though both are obviously infractions.
Yes, from a S.J. Quakes fan who wanted to see K.C. take the whole thing: Jimmy sure as hell could have done better with that clearance... It looked like Wolff didn't get a touch until the second half... Moreno was just plain fun to watch, while Garcia makes me want to throw objects at my TV... Where the hell did that K.C. team, that did us all the the most wonderful favor of dispatching the Galaxitives, go? Live by the 'own goal' die by the 'own goal'
Dammit, you just don't know the damn rules. Please, if you're going to continue discussing this, go to the referees forum and learn something. Anything. BTW, "intent" can come from arm position. Like I pointed out, that's why guys in the wall don't hold their arms up. Of course they don't have time to move them, so any handling would be ball to hand, not hand to ball. But guess what? It's still handling. ADVANTAGE GAINED HAS NO BEARING. I can't figure out how anyone who understands the rules of the game could think that what Esky did was worse than what Carroll did, or anything other than pretty much the same thing. Please stop. You're embarassing yourself.