A blown throw-in call and invented penalty decide the match, while Carlos Ruiz knocks Carey Talley unconscious with an elbow deserving of an IMMEDIATE red card and no card is given whatsoever. This is NOT a serious league as long as refereeing of this caliber takes place.
Since it's for the home team, just let it go. At least that'll make the home fans happy and make them want to come back. Other than that the refs are horrible. But they should at least give the home team some benefit of doubt since many of them don't.
Nice dive cobiPity the galaxy have to resort to drawing penalties just to win. Ricardo Salazar= idiot.
Brought to you by the same man that gave you Chicago at San Jose. He also gave a joke PK to KC. So no home bias there, just incompetent Ref.
THANX...AND A QUAKES FAN...you KNOW its gotta be true now AW WELL...GALAXY WIN SO I DON'T CARE NO MORE...JUST DON'T LET IT HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE. umm...NO... just a regular foul... no need for card...MAYBE a yellow... but not really. He wasn't unconcious, he was just laying around like a lil punk...lots of peeps do that...
Ricardo Salazar? Oh god. What a mess of a ref that man is. After seeing both fouls on MLS wrap, I would have to say that both calls were questionable. There was very little intense physical contact on the Jones PK (a bit of a dive if you ask me, but take that for what it's worth as I am a San Jose supporter.) The other one might have been called obstruction, which could lead to an indirect kick in the box (which Salazar doesn't seem to understand, just ask Manny Lagos) but it was still a very questionable call. Props to Kevin Hartman though. That was a fantastic save to earn LA the three points.
I guess you don't take the World Cup as a serious tournament then? Because the referees at the World Cup had much worse games than this.
That disallowed goal for DC was possibly the worst call I've ever seen. Gansner had to be flagging for offside since I doubt linesmen would flag for a foul (wasn't a foul either) in the box on a set piece. Even if you go back to the days when you had to be in front of the 3rd defender to be onside, it was still onside.
Gansner interestingly enough also was one of the linesmen in the refereeing debacle in SJ, although I dont know if he was the one that couldnt tell Whitfield was 3-5 yards off sides or the other guy.
I've got to admit that PK was even worse, though it might have been partly a make-up call for the first blunder. That happens quite a bit and as far as I'm concerned it's an example of two wrongs make a right. Much better than giving one team a gift. Ruiz's elbow was pretty serious. I wonder if MLS will take that as seriously as Garcia's trivial acting. I doubt it.
I didn't mean that the level of play isn't serious--it's the level of refereeing that doesn't do justice to the growing level of the players and the league. And worst of all, doesn't protect them. Ruiz's elbow was not "just a foul." And Talley was semi-conscious, yes, but actually looked wobbly-legged and incoherent as he staggered off the field and had to be replaced right away. And giving two bad PKs away--even if one is a make-up call--is not good reffing. Remember Predergast's make-up call against the US in Costa Rica? As for the World Cup, FIFA was so horrified at the bias and the blown calls that it has vowed it will no longer try to imitate the United Nations when it comes to appointing refs and linesmen. We'll see if they carry it off, but supposedly the "teams" of officials will all speak the same language, and have experience working with one another. I'll believe that when I see it, but there's no question it degraded the tournament. Certainly Spain and Italy feel it wasn't a serious tournament.
Salazar was indeed a disgrace but I thought the first PK call was a good one. Cobi had beaten his man and was off balance while in stride even before being hit and hence it LOOKED like he went down easy, but in reality he just went down 'cause he was fouled. Just my .02 of course.
3 goals, sevearl injuries including Talley's, 6 substitutions and 5 yellow cards within the second half (2 more in injury time). I think 6 minutes is about right.
LA-KC officiating fiasco Horrible offficiating, yes. I was about 50 yards from the foul on Cobi, however, and that was a PK all the way. Cobi beat the guy, so he chopped his ankles. The elbow to Talley's head was terrible --- reminiscent of Leonardo on Tab Ramos (also un-whistled, if I remember correctly). The PK against Lalas was pretty laughable, it was minor contact, and no self-respecting ref would whistle it in, say England, Spain, Italy, etc. The funny thing was the bad throw-in call just before the Cobi pk. The KC players were furious with the linesman and were SCREAMING expletives at him the rest of the match. Josh Wolff lined up in a 2-man wall, and let go with a string of vulgarity that would make a Marine Seargent blush. Meola just never stopped screaming at the guy the rest of the game. While this Ref should be thrown out of the league, this was a real barnburner of a game... end to end action non-stop. It was exciting stuff. ---Mark
Re: LA-KC officiating fiasco Again, more burning biased remarks from an LA fan, so I'll chime in with my biased remarks as well. Jones and Gomez both had contact with each other with their arms in the other's chest area. I watched on TV with replays and I went back last night to my tape and put it on slow motion. There was no "chopping of the ankles". You may have been there, but I watched it over and over on video. I'd say anyone with a tape has got the better look. You're right, the elbow was terrible. A 2-3 game suspension and $1,000 fine is in order. Teach Ruiz a damn lesson for once that he cant get away with that crap in this league. You're also right that the KC PK was the wrong call. Lalas did move back to get in Quill's way, but this same play happens all the time on ball going toward keepers or going toward the end line. Defenders often shield the ball and the chasing player slams into him with the result being a noncall or a foul on the offensive player. I saw very little reason for the PK except as a make up call.
What that picture shows is that Cobi had him beat. By the time the penalty was called, Cobi was farther in front of him and got shoved in the back. Penalty.
Yes, Gomez was beat. That is all that picture shows. Just because a player is beat in the box doesnt mean that if the offensive player goes down it MUST be a PK does it? As I stated, Jones got around Gomez, then went down like a bag of bricks. There was no shove, and definitely no chopping of the legs. If anything there was what this picture shows: both players with their hand on each other and Jones going down with little to no contact. It was similar to Twellmans dive the previous week where Twellman was yellow carded for diving. There was contact, but not enough for a player to go down so easily.
The other obvious joke was the failure to call a "play on" when Albright had a clear breakaway. Now, I can't honestly say that call impacted the game, because I don't have any illusions about Albright's ability to do anything with the ball on a breakaway, but it was such a grossly stupid call - not even close - that it does undercut any credibility the ref might conceivably claim. The problem with this kind of failure is that it takes away any motivation a player might have to fight through a foul and try to stay up. If the ref is going to penalize a player who works through a foul, you might just as well go down, roll around, and pretend.
Cobi dove. Big time. Bad call. Lalas obstructed. That should've been an indirect free kick. Bad call. But, nobody ever calls obstruction in the box. Jeff Cunningham and Brian West have been obstructed more times than I can count, and I've never seen an indirect free awarded inside the area. I think the refs believe any foul they whistle inside the box is a penalty kick.
He saw Quill chasing the ball, turned and stepped in front of him to impede his progress. Obstruction would not be a poor call. A very bold one, but not a poor call.
Yeah, Lalas was facing the goal and the KC player ran into his back! That is such a flagrant obstruction. Lalas got a yellow on top of that!!!! What a joke. That ref was set on trying out for a Hollywood role with all the air time he was getting.