It was a crucial point, we are 10 points out of the playoffs spots. Without this tie, we'd be 11. And as Spinal Tap said, 11 is more than 10.
The VAR highlight was the only one I watched. It felt like what I feared, like college or NFL football where every detail of play is reviewed. It went awefully far back and to a judgement call.
That VAR call was weird. I see that "plays involving goals" has a pretty wide latitude if you can go back to the origin on the counter attack. I'm not sure it properly accounts for the butterfly effect, though. Even with the foul, it was a huge screwup by the Rapids. No one tracked back to mark their leading scorer as a trail runner on a counter?
Seems like one way to get someone else starting. Although it does make sense to start those who need experience in our pre-season games.....
That's fair, it just shows how our expectations have lowered over the last few years. We used to expect the playoffs, now I'm happy with a road point that keeps us out of the basement :-(
Traveling right now and just thankful that I watched the 20 minute condensed version of that game via MLS Live. Even then I think it was about 5 minutes too long.
Total watch time for those of us that waited out the weather delay on Altitude was close to 4 hours -- so I applaud your efficiency for the same result ... 1 point when we needed 3. And all three seemed to be there for the taking after the delay but the instructions apparently were to play for the safe (and useless at present) road point.
Had this match taken place in March or April a point would have been okay. But obviously it's way to late to be accepting a draw at home or on the road. Somebody above stated that thought this was the first time this season where the players didn't really give a strong effort. I'm not sure that I am 100% in agreement, but certainly given the level of attacking talent they need maximum effort to win matches.
I had better things to do, so I didn't watch the game . . . live. Then my Stockholm Syndrome kicked in and I watched the replay this afternoon. I wish I hadn't. Video replay will destroy the MLS. It is the latest equivalent of the awful shootout era, tinkering with the game itself just for the sake of tinkering. Thoughts on the reviewed play: The Harris-on-Badji foul occurred 23 seconds before the Urruti shot. This unquestionably was a foul, could have been called, and should have been called. That said, LOTS of fouls aren't called in every single match. That's soccer. That's life. The outlet pass that ultimately ended up at Urruti's feet went within two yards of Doyle and about the same distance of two other Rapids. All ignored the ball. Had any of them reacted to the ball, Urruti would not have had possession or the shot. They were too busy waiting for the foul call to play soccer. This has been a problem all season. The Rapids spend more time flopping, whining, pouting, protesting indignities, begging for cards, and waiting for a whistle than making any effort to play soccer. What happened to "play until you hear a whistle"? It is clear from the broadcast that the ONLY part of the play that was reviewed was the Harris-on-Badji foul. That can be seen plainly from the field camera. Second-guessing missed foul calls will alter the entire way soccer is played. It will be soccer's equivalent of baseball's replay rule, where infielders have changed the way tags are made, holding the tag for an eternity in the hope that the baserunner will somehow lift his feet off the bag for a fraction of a second. The goal should have stood. The upfield foul should have been reviewed by the DisCo as a play on which the referee did not issue a foul and which could possibly have resulted in a straight red card. That would have been the proper way to handle this. Sjoberg wasn't himself during the entire match. He was out of position, reacted slowly to plays, seemed timid, and repeatedly failed to clear the ball. That suggests that he started the match injured, and made the injury worse by playing, hence his departure at half. Where are the trainers and coaches? Isn't Sjoberg worth more than sacrificing him for a meaningless match in a lost cause season? DaFonte's play is both thuggish and poor. (As opposed to thuggish and good, like Kyle Beckerman.) He seems woefully lost on any build involving players who bracket him. He can't clear. He doesn't read plays. He doesn't learn from previous matches and plays. He goes to ground unnecessarily. (About the 68' he went to ground and came up a couple yards short of both the ball and the FCD player dribbling the ball.) It may be a blessing that he misses the Wooden Spoon match. The back line collectively seems to have the philosophy that it doesn't matter what they do, because Howard will bail them out. That doesn't qualify as a game plan. FCD outplayed the Rapids from start to finish. The video replay goal-snatch cost FCD two points that they earned from the run of play. This result has much the same feel as the infamous shot-bouncing-on-crossbar / whistle / corner kick indication / "unwhistle" / allowed goal match with Montreal. From what I saw, the Rapids tied FC Dallas 1-0. This long preseason can't end soon enough. JMHO.
Significant disagreement here @fortcollins I just watched the replay. The clock shows 46:04 when Badji is fouled and 46:15 when Urruti shoots. That's 11 seconds, not 23, and it was 11 seconds of straight attacking soccer. That is textbook how VAR is to be used. This won't ruin MLS unless its also going to ruin the Bundesliga and Serie A this year, the World Cup next year, and the EPL next season. They're all using exactly the same system with exactly the same rules. That's because MLS isn't setting the VAR rules, FIFA and the IFAB is. The only MLS decision on this was agreeing to use it this year. Under the rules as written Dallas didn't earn the goal and didn't earn a win. Sadly, neither did the Rapids. Horrible play from the burgundy boys, again. (I have my issues with VAR related specifically to this scenario but since these are the rules FIFA decided to go with, they got it right. All the talk int he last 24 hours about MLS being a Mickey Mouse league or Americanizing the game because of decisions like this is blaming MLS for something that isn't their fault)
I haven't followed the VAR rules as closely as others, but if the rule allows that goal to be brought back, they need to change the rule. That's like the NFL changing their replay rules to allow: "He actually did get two feet down, so it's a TD...except he pushed off the defender at the line of scrimmage, so he shouldn't have been in a position to get two feet down." Geez, the Dallas player with the ball actually pulled it back and waited for a teammate to join him. As for effort, I'll put up Gashi and Doyle as examples. The announcer (didn't catch her name, but I liked her) pointed out a couple plays. Something like, "When Gashi lost the ball, I expect to see him try to win it back." There were a couple plays where Badji is going forward and Doyle was jogging behind instead of filling a lane. We'll give Sjoberg a break since he was trying to play through an injury. I'm not arguing it was a horrible effort, but pedestrian. The only positive in the entire season so far is I always thought they gave great effort. And did anyone see any player try to make a play after the delay?
Actually, isn't that exactly how the NFL replay rules work? Any scoring play is fully reviewed, and if they decided there was an illegal push off to start the play, they'd nullify the entire down. I honestly don't have a problem with the VAR outcome in this case since it's how the rules are written. My issue with VAR is that they don't tell anyone that VAR is involved or what is being looked at. The last home game had the fans all booing a perceived delay on a corner when in fact the ref was holding up the game for a VAR review. Most of the fans didn't know what was happening and since it ended up a no call, never knew what the hold up was. TV watchers at least get some notice when the play callers figure out what is going on. VAR needs to trigger a stadium announcement when it's happening, and announce the outcome of the review, change or no change. Better yet the video should be running on the stadium screen(s) while the on-field ref is looking at it.
@JasonMa, we're going to have to disagree here. You are correct on the timing. i have no idea where I had 23 seconds. I think I meant to type 13, but I was in la-la land typing 23. I know that this is a FIFA mess, but that doesn't make it any less of a mess. Video replay is fundamentally altering the game. Here, it rewarded the Rapids for not attacking the FCD pass. Doyle was a step from the ball, and did nothing. I think it was Gashi who was about two steps away, and did nothing. Sjoberg got grabby with Colman, and slow-danced with him, rather than defending. This allowed the spin and easy outlet to an unmarked Urruti, who took an uncontested shot from 20 yards while Watts simply watched. The ball found net at 46:16. Play resumed at 50:02. Consider what this scenario invites from teams: Diving on every play, in the hope that a review is conducted and finds a foul that negates the resulting events Whining and begging for video replay review on every goal Increasingly hypertechnical applications of the laws of the game ("Gee, on the initial throw-in there were two blades of grass separating his heel from the touchline, so that's not a goal") Destruction of the fluidity of the game itself Inevitably, allowing coaching challenges, which also inevitably will result in delaying the match and using the challenges to break the other team's momentum The MLS had the choice not to implement video review this year, especially midyear. Rolling out a fundamental change in the game halfway through a season is beyond idiotic. That's on the MLS. The FCD scoreboard did show that the play was under video review. It didn't show the video that was being reviewed, however. There may be some very good reasons not to show this in some stadiums (Philadelphia might be a good one to name here). I really deeply hate all video review. Yes, I'm biased. But I still think that the upfield foul on Badji didn't cause the goal. The Rapids' complete inability to defend anything after the foul caused that goal.
But you could argue that at least in Gashi's and Doyle's case that they didn't attack the ball because they thought the whistle on the foul was coming. Yeah, that's still on them for not playing to the whistle but considering the ref made a "clear and obvious mistake" in not calling it its not that hard to see where they were coming from. I'm not against replay itself (I'm a Seahawks fan, we still remember being screwed by the lack of replay against the Jets) but I have my concerns about the VAR implementation. That said as long as it exists I want it to be used to its full advantage and this is exactly what its designed to do. (The mid-year addition was a bit weird. I understand why, as the rule change wasn't official until July 1, but I would have waited until next season and not made a mid-year change)
I was with JasonMa... until he brought the Seahawks into the conversation. I. Just. Can't. I can't agree with someone who brings their Washington team into the conversation.
The NFL is just the opposite. They look for whether the receiver caught the ball or had his feet inbounds. There was a huge controversy in a Monday night game when you could see a player shove another player right in the back during a Hail Mary play. Still a TD. They review facts, not judgment calls. As for Doyle and Gashi waiting for a call, as I wrote a earlier, they did that all game whether there was a foul or not. If that is what the VAR rule is supposed to correct, time to relook at the rule.
I get it was FIFA, not MLS. And I'm not opposed, but concerned. I do not want Football, which unwatchable at times due to VAR. Did the ref see and not call it the first time, or did he not see it. I don't know, I'm a firm believer that stuff happens, and should happen in sport. But I'm also a firm believer that Ireland got screwed out of a world cup spot by France, and that if VAR existed, players would even try to stuff like that, not to mention diving.
NBA team ... relocated to Oklahoma about a decade ago (Oklahoma City Thunder). Paranoid Coyote nailed it above