I had to watch after this one started and never caught up. Obviously can't predict red cards (lead leading, WTH?), but the premise of getting a draw came through.
That’s not how that would work For example, if a defending player makes a serious foul play tackle that gets called for a penalty, but it’s later shown the player was offside who earned the penalty, it doesn’t erase the sending off for serious foul play. agada dove. He should get punished for that if he’s on or off. It’s a dumb thing to do, especially on a yellow (that was borderline red on its own)
The commentators said multiple times that there was contact. They also said that VAR confirmed contact but that it was not enough to reverse the call. Reversing the call would require a PK. I am not sure why VAR can't over turn the sending off. Look, if there was an obvious dive then confirm it via VAR. If there was contact but not enough for a PK, why can't you say so? Review whether it was a dive. If it was not a dive, reverse the sending off without a PK.
Also, there was a CLEAR hand ball in the first half on Dallas. No review. We are 8 - 1 on VAR situations. It is actually more if you consider the situations that haven't been checked. We lead the league in red cards and frankly all 4 have been extremely soft. Diving on a playoff that showed extremely close players in a bang bang moment? Send off. Bode takes his time throwing in the ball. Send off. Piol shows his stud and his opponent violently blasts his leg through his stud. Red card. Elbow to Katranis' neck... no red because he was turning around like all of us do. You know, naturally turning around with my elbow flailing towards people's heads. The refs have been so suspect this year. I dont know what a foul looks like and what one doesn't anymore.
PS. We had 10 fouls and 5 yellows in the first half! Enelis yellow?!?!?! Glads yellow!?!?! I mean, they weren't even clearly fouls. I coach comp soccer. Some refs that NEVER played the game love to explain things to me about certain calls and how they know best when they are dead wrong. I am nice and courteous and let them explain the most absurd things. But when those guys end up in charge of guiding the refs then goofy stuff like this season happens.
I am in Korea and watched this match late. Cool thing is we got to attend a K- League match last night. Gotta tell you the ultra’s in Korea are insane. They sang and chanted 90 straight minutes, I have never personally witnessed that type of support. As to our match, I really only have one thought and that it is: it’s borderline criminal for the front office of this team to start and be willing to finish this campaign with the level of attacking players we have. Our back line could use some help, and due to injuries are really struggling, our mid field and wing players are decent, but our attack is a joke. No club that generates the fan support that this one does, deserves an ownership group unwilling to spend on strikers. We lost a potential center forward in the window because we could not close the deal based on exchange rates? Please you want to charge me $15.00 for a beer and $9.00 for a hot dog, but cannot do any better signing some real quality up front? RSL needs to better for it’s fan base sorry!
As an avowed ref lover I was not impressed. I don't know what he was trying to do with all of the early yellows and for things that weren't really yellow for most. In so doing he added to the chippiness instead of managing the chippiness. By giving out so many first half yellows to RSL it only encouraged more chipping and baiting from FCD. But in the end, it was some lame brain play that cost RSL. Agada's first yellow was an inch or two from straight red territory and his second was just...well, deserved. Quit ********ing diving. Diogo is as close to a bust at this point as any player ever for RSL. Almost anyway. It's like he's performing and not playing. Just getting to the right spots and looking like he is running and efforting but really just can't find the real desire to be here. Diego Luna looks like he is playing to get out of town as soon as possible. As much as i love what Cabral has done for this club this year, without Luna and his 7 goals, holy cow. I thought this game was screaming for a player with a ton of experience like Russell. I would have yanked Diogo for Johnny and given him 15-20 minutes to try and work with Luna to catch FCD sleeping or forward. Pablo didn't think want him to have to work so hard on defense but for 15 minutes I would have got him out there to try and veteran us some opportunities. Still, a point in Dallas when you have only ever won there twice is good, I guess.
With 11 players on the field, Russell would absolutely have been a good insertion. But at 10 men, even fifteen minutes for a rusty guy with no game fitness and older than everyone else on the field, I want someone who can go both ways every play.
I appreciate your perspective here I think this was a nuanced situation that warranted at least going to the monitor to discuss. I really don’t get why that action has become so taboo in referee circles. All that said - a dive doesn’t necessitate non contact. Searching for contact, imo, is also a dive. I’ve seen it interpreted both ways by officials. This isn’t what bothers me here. What bothers me is two part: (I) inconsistent application of laws and (ii) lack of awareness by rsl players Inconsistent application: I can recall multiple situations just this season alone where a player dives in the box to try and earn a penalty. Last nights yellow was one of the few - if not only - times the ref not only blew their whistle to call the dive, but also awarded it with a card. This isn’t against the laws of the game. It’s just not consistently applied. I work in banking. If we applied laws/policies/rules inconsistently like that an attorney would take us to the cleaners for UDAAP violations Lack of self awareness Like you, I’ve dabbled in coaching competitive soccer. It’s fun. It’s a privilege. I’ve stressed to players the need to control what you can control when things like this happen. The conversation shouldn’t be “agada, that was so dumb they gave you a yellow. How ridiculous of the refs.” Instead the focus should be “why did you go into a tackle at midfield with both feet? And then once you had that yellow, why did you try to earn a penalty kick by going down instead of taking a shot” remove the external factors you don’t control. There a plenty of them and they make tremendous scapegoats… but they don’t create growth.
I totally get that thought and maybe 15-20 minutes would have been too long but maybe instead of Barea for Gonçalves in the 84th minute Russell.
Loved how you asked Pablo on this I see his logic but don’t agree with his answer He answered like a guy afraid to lose and not one wanting to win
I think someone should ask Pablo what exactly is it about his game plan and play style that is putting his players in these situations that they’ve earned an astonishing 4 red cards in 12 games. That is a statistical outlier that would indicate a systematic issue or behavioral one.
Pablo (more off the cuff and unserious than anything) suggested maybe the universe was against RSL the only person you’ll get to ask actually good questions is @goobx1 otherwise you’ll have these long winded statements where a player (literally) responds by saying “I don’t know what the question was”
Piol's was very questionable. Agada and Hidalgo were 100% bonehead mental mistakes. I can't remember the other. I don't think you can pin the red cards on Pablo.
Two things can both be true at the same time: 1) Hidalgo and Agada should not have played with fire by delaying a throw in and diving when they were on a yellow. The ref is certainly within the rules of the game to award those yellows. 2) Those yellows are *very* rarely and inconsistently given, especially when a player is already sitting on a yellow. I wish the refs gave those yellows more consistently, and then it's likely that Hidalgo and Agada would have been more careful. It's super frustrating to get a second yellow for something that usually goes unpunished, and pretty easy to feel hard-done by even if it is something the refs should call.
Of all the red cards I think that the Agada one was probably most deserved. HIs first yellow was pretty scary and if he had made any kind of contact would have been an easy red. His second was also an easy call. He could have jumped over Paes and taken a shot but tried to stick a leg out for the PK. Not smart. The Hidalgo one was absolutely a brain fart on the ref. If you watch the replay he didn't realize he had already booked Bode. You can see the surprise on his face. It's pretty funny. Diegos was crap from start to finish and should have been overturned on the VAR but the ref was a bit too prideful. I can go either way on the Piol one but when, if I remember right, it was after the whistle and after a previous foul and the FCD player was swinging his leg through the ball not Piol. It never should have gotten to the point so the red was harsh but the video was pretty damning. On another day the universe probably decides to call it another way. I do think that this club is playing with fire a bit when it comes to team chemistry and keeping things together. Diego did not look happy at all in the post game, no surprise, but when you have a young kid carrying the team and you have a DP getting paid four times what he is and can't seem to figure how to be an impactful player on the club a few more loses with little help in the scoring department and the weight of the season could really bear down on a club falling away from playoff contention. May could be a telling month or a turning point. Five games left, two at home against third place Portland and then on the 24th against Vancouver again. And Colorado, Austin, and LA Galaxy away. Three winnable road games and some tough home games. We shall see what RSL and the universe has in store.
I don’t know if we know the details of Luna’s current contract. We signed an extension for him at the start of last season, and Sept2024 was the last we saw of salary updates. Those often don’t have included all the incentives& bonuses for meeting certain targets. It could have been that 2024 was for less, but then 2025&2026 had bigger guarantees. That contract was signed when we had Chicho&Gomez still. I guess we have to wait for the players Union to update their info. It should be coming out soon. There is usually an update about a month after the window closes.
Is it really not smart to play for the PK when historically you're more likely to get that call vs being called for a dive? Especially when you're almost never punished for it
Both sides of this have valid points but I’m inclined to more lean to @DrownedElf ‘s pov. In this league you either get the pk or the ref calls nothing at all (the most probable outcome).