Sorry for offending the big soccer god of exactness. I was on beer 9 at the time. What was Brian Hall's excuse? But great use of the word duhhh...you could teach my 7 year old how to use it moe effectively.
Your an idiot the ball was out of bounds before he kicked it at Hartman's face the linesman made that call
I absolutely agree. Hall was a very good ref, for example, at the 2002 World Cup. Bottom line is that MLS matches are reffed with soft hands. Things that players would never get away with in International Soccer are the norm in MLS, and Hall adjusts his play calling accordingly. One of the biggest improvements in MLS would be to tighten the officiating across the league. Don't be afraid to send a defender off (Marshall) for a bad tackle. Don't be afraid to card a dive (Cunningham, Moreno, etc). And most of all, card dissent (Ben ********ing Olsen).
Not to mention don't be afraid to hand out yellow cards for the so-called "professional" foul. My main gripe against Hall is not that he misses that many calls -- I think he does a pretty good job in that respect -- but that he too rarely cards the intentional fouls meant to slow down counterattacks and dangerous attacking opportunities.
Hey, I once saw Abbey Okulaja toss Olsen off the sidelines in an Open Cup game. Sad part was that Olsen was right. Abbey was having a nightmare game, and he was yelling back at everyone. Surprised he didn't end up in a Greco-Roman contest with some of the Barra Brava.
Amen. And don't forget the slow MLS defenders grabbing from behind the shirts of the good offensive players because they can't do anything else.
I think this is a exceptionally important discussion. All team Boards and the MLS Board should discuss this and come to a consensus and then we ALL tell the League---THIS IS NO S**t----: Get this Ref-Not Calling Stuff Crap settled and have the bastards call games the way the rules are written. MLS will make that happen if we collectively insist.
A slight tangent... but it's interesting that MLS so actively targets youth fans, yet allows such displays of poor sportsmanship to go unpunnished. You'd think they want a clean product on the field, but as it stands, there's more players yelling at refs than in any league in the U.S. (even baseball). Dissent in MLS is an absolute travesty, and it could be all but wiped out in a month if MLS/refs let the cards fly.
How much leeway does MLS have to give its refs that type of command? They're U.S. Soccer refs first, MLS refs second. See http://www.mlsnet.com/content/03/datastore/referee_assessment.html Which, of course, makes any difference between Hall's international work and his MLS work that much more puzzling.