to allow a defender to place BOTH hands on an opponent's back and push him to the ground? It's disgusting that referees allow this to go on. PRO sucks!
I saw that too. I also saw wrapping your arms around an attacker on the corner kick right after referee gave a “warning” as apparently totally legal.
Its been illegal for decades and I am unaware of a rule change. Its mostly uncalled when an attacker pushes a defender in the back when the defender is screening the attacker from the ball.
I don't remember the year or the game, but I remember seeing Landon run up the back of a defender screening him off the ball near the end line. He didn't slow much and pushed the defender with both arms. The defender went flying, I don't think that he could have simulated the speed or distance. No foul was called. I have seem similar plays since then including this year. Again, if it was near the end line, no call was made.
Wow, that was the play. I was sitting on the east side about 5 yards to the south of the midfield line, so about 70 yards away. The video angle showed the defender kind of hopping over the ball, so there was more simulation then I thought. Sorry skydog you were right about the acting, but it was still a foul, IMO.
Agree that was a massive foul and ref was either incompetent or given terrible guidance on what constitutes a foul. Also I wasnt arguing your general point that this particular foul is undercalled, just pointing out that some players have mastered the head snap back and legs collapsing like they were just hit by a sniper bullet- those players get a lot more favorable foul calls. If Donovans victim would have added the head snap he might have induced a call but honestly it loked like he was caught by surprise by this Alpha Donovan. Chich is actually good at selling fouls but mercifully doesnt overdo it. Even big old Zlatan was a good actor and knew exactly when to pull out one of his many tricks to get a favorable call. But American players still tend to be naive in this area.
I remember that play because it was such a blatant foul and lead to a goal right afterward. And yeah, how often does Donovan go full gorilla on somebody?
Damn. I miss that team. Loved Bruce's comments about scrapping and playing hard. We could use some of that these days.
Maybe that explains why it wasn't called. The referee must have missed it and then said to himself, "That must have been a dive, no way that Landon pushed him!".
This, so so much. I think Joni Mitchell must have time travelled because she wrote a song that was oddly specific to our Galaxy, past and present: Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you've got til its gone They paved paradise, put up a parking lot (Ooh, bop-bop-bop-bop, ooh, bop-bop-bop-bop)
You know what? I have no problem with a push in the back if your shielding the ball over the line. It should be the price you pay. Now it’s still a foul. A good defender always keeps the ball even when fouled there. If he’s not so casual that LD foul is only a corner. the one against Austin was defender BEFORE the play arms wrapped 90% around the attacker. The only thing was hands weren’t overlapping in a bear hug so I guess it was just what passed for “good defense” these days.
Personally, I hate the way the game is called. If I had my way, there would be a lot more fouls called and cards issued. As Ken Aston, the referee who invented cards once told a referee class that I attended, the referee is there to protect the skilled players from the not-so-skilled.