I've watched about every game on TV so far and I've noticed that there is a lot less tolerence for flopping. Advantage is also being played far more often. Some egregious fouls have been missed, but, video justice seems to be covering that issue. It's early days yet,but, I can't remember a game where the ref was just awful and contributed to the outcome. There appears to be a more "let them play" atmosphere which frankly, surprises me. I thought for sure that with the pending arrival of marquee internationals that MLS would be be more "protective" this year. I've been pleasantly surprised. Let's hope it continues as it makes the game much more fast and free.
I've wanted this approach for years. Granted, not catching certain fouls can hurt teams..like the Revs vs Crew, but ultimately it creates a great flow of play. What does occur is interesting. The dirty teams both defensively and offensively become more frustrated as play continues. Flopping doesn't get you that time wasting you were hoping for, and thus makes them hack and lunge more. Ultimately they'll get caught and of course with a more flagrant foul which will harm them, hopefully. Seeing the modern game go the way of falling at the first touch of an opposing player has made the game ugly and at time boring and unwatchable. When a team is trying and trying and then the perfect stunt man's flop in the box gives the opposition a completely unwarranted PK(see Australia-Italy game WC 06) you feel let down that the rules simply favor the dirty play of the cheaters. Hopefully, MLS and ultimately FIFA get a real grasp of all of this. The game is PHYSICAL, yes..and refs should be trained on what to look for in fouls. Sure it's a judgement call..but I do believe pregame research on players shouldn't be just for opposing teams, but for refs as well. They need to be students of the game, not just from the standpoint of rules but in the actual play and tactics.
"Seeing the modern game go the way of falling at the first touch of an opposing player has made the game ugly and at time boring and unwatchable. When a team is trying and trying and then the perfect stunt man's flop in the box gives the opposition a completely unwarranted PK(see Australia-Italy game WC 06) you feel let down that the rules simply favor the dirty play of the cheaters." I think the fundamental flaw with this analysis is that it treats diving more harshly than other forms of cheating like hacking and especially shirt pulling. The only attacking players dive is as a way to even up against defenders who are basically allowed to r*pe them. But defenders can do whatever they want and that's not cheating, apparently. I've always said there are two things refs can do to get rid of diving that they're not doing now. a) Call shirt pulling by defenders. Frankly, I think it's a miracle there are ever any goals scored at high levels of corner kicks. b) The biggest one is call fouls even in situations where the aggrieved player doesn't go down. The indisputable fact of the matter is that no matter how real the foul is, the aggrieved player will not get the call 95 percent of the time if he stays on his feet. 99.9 percent of the time if he's in the box. I remember watching a KC-Metros game a few years ago and a KC player fouled Wolyniec in the box. Wolyniec stumbled but stayed on his feet because he's that kind of player. I was astonished that the ref actually gave the penalty. I was so impressed that I wrote MLS to praise the ref. If refs call fouls even when players don't go to ground, it will encourage them to stay on their feet. Until this happens, they will continued to be punished for honest play and thus this will continue to encourage diving!