There's a yellow card fest going on over there and I couldn't be happier. Gonzales has dealt with every very stupid challenge with not just a talking to but a yellow card immediately starting with a light scissor by Freddy Adu. I'm glad he's not shying away from giving obvious yellows.
in the immortal words of Shep Messing..."wow" Well, he did go down very easily looking for a call there.
This is where the yellows for "simulation" go too far. Is a player just off balance and falling, or is he deliberately trying to deceive the referee? I don't think Adu was trying o deceive the referee. There's no evidence to necessarily suggest he was. If I'm an MLS ref, simulation is one thing I'd leave to the DC unless I was 100% sure.
It's a ballsy call, I'll give him that. I am glad it was a no call. I am not sure you can book Adu there, but he was there and felt Adu went down too easily and was trying to win a penalty unfairly, so there it is.
Sorry, but I find this ridiculous and is continuing down the path of my newest pet peeve: "Let's leave it to the Disciplinary Committee!" Sorry, but no. No way. If it's simulation, it's a bookable offence per the Laws. And simulation--like everything else--is in the opinion of the referee. If the referee feels a player simulated, he's obligated to show the yellow card. What if Gonzalez did as you suggest, and then the DC says it should have been a caution? That means Adu wrongly played the second half. Being a good referee means making tough decisions--not punting them to an anonymous committee. I thought in the past couple of years that our referee program was back on the right path, but the advent of the DC and people's automatic reliance upon it is starting to make me re-think that assessment. As for going too far on this particular call, I disagree there, too. Adu lifted his leg and looked for the foul. I felt it was a rather obvious dive, to be honest--and so did Gonzalez, it seems. I don't think he's giving that card unless he's 100% sure. And if he's sure, then Adu is trying to cheat--cheat NY, cheat the game and cheat Gonzalez. I have absolutely no sympathy for Adu. There's also a huge bit of irony, including from the commentators. Everyone says diving is a plague on the game. Everyone says it's gone too far. Everyone says it needs to be eradicated. Then a referee steps up and all of a sudden it's "oh, but there's grey area! how could the referee ruin the game?" Mind-boggling analysis. How this kind of analysis, instead?... "Don't go down easily when there's no leg contact (and minimal arm contact, which it looks like you partially initiated) by kicking one of your legs up and immediately looking for the penalty and you won't risk getting sent off after you already committed an orange card offence inside 5 minutes on a foul that you stupidly claimed you got the ball?" Isn't that better for the game? Good on Gonzalez--incredibly good, in fact. I thought he had a bit of a lull last year after rising to be one of the top referees in the league. Hopefully this sort of performance means he's back at his peak level.
Yup. What Mass said. Plus, Adu was trying to game Gonzalez from the get go. Just take a look at his histrionics when he received the first yellow.
HA! You changed your post after I liked it! Also, pure speculation, but I think Gonzalez is going to have another red here. Not because he's looking to even it up, but because he's been incredibly consistent and the heavy challenges still seem to be flying in.
I'll stop you right there. I think the Laws are flawed in more than one way. I could write a 20 page essay about how the laws are flawed and how I would change them if I were in charge. 1.) Simulation. Humans are not anatomically capable of calling simulation live with greater than 90% accuracy. The only way to punish simulation accurately is with slow motion video review. This is something that should be left to video review after games. 2.) DOSGO should not be a red card. DOSGO should be a penalty regardless of where the foul occurs on the field of play. 3.) The penalty box is a flawed mechanism for awarding penalty kicks. A foul in certain areas of the box under certain conditions simply shouldn't result in an opportunity to score a goal. This needs to be revised. 4.) The red card-yellow card system is flawed. There should be a card in between which results in a player sent off (and suspended), but replaced with one of the three available substitutions. 5.) Knockouts. If a player is at any time knocked out cold, he shouldn't be allowed to continue. He should be replaced by a substitute. ...I could go on forever When it comes to the phili game, I'm not arguing that it was a bad call within the laws of the game. I'm arguing that the Laws aren't adequate. Within the LOTG, that call is completely justifiable.
One refreshing thing about this particular match is that Gonzalez is actually calling the fouls. Too many guys in this league have bought into the "let them play" mindset where next to nothing gets called. I agree that he had a bit of a lull last season after being very good early in his MLS career. I just assumed that was because he had his mind filled with all of those directives from on high.
Yes and this game is actually enjoyable to watch because of that. Also Phili goes down to 10 and then immediately scores after the half...this is a great game.
This definitely. I enjoy this style of reffing. No nonsense stuff. A few hiccups in flow and stoppages can yield a much smother game in the second half.
But you argued that you would ignore it if you were an MLS referee. The tenor of your post certainly suggested that you thought it was a bad call, and that Gonzalez should have done nothing. If your justification for that is "well, the Laws are bad," I don't think that's a valid argument insofar as refereeing analysis goes.
Very confused by the offside decision there. One defender was on the goal line and the goalkeeper's foot was on the line. Seemed impossible unless the initial ball played-in was offside and the whistle was late. Thoughts? I admit it was very confusing and difficult for an AR to process.
I never said it was a bad call within the LOTG. That was, as you said, insinuated from the "tenor" of my post. [Due to] the absence of verbal clarity in my original post, let me make it clear now. It's not a bad call. If I were an MLS referee, I wouldn't sweat the simulation calls unless they were 100% clear. That falls into "the opinion of the referee." And if I was the czar of FIFA laws, I would amend them.
Dax McCarty just pulled the exact same petulant, visual dissent move that he got booked for with Stoica last week. It wasn't as prolonged and Gonzalez just got on with it, but it was funny to notice. Old habits die hard.
In retrospect, even though Gonzalez initially signaled for an IFK, I think the AR was signalling for a GK: http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2012-05-13-phi-v-ny/highlights?videoID=185622 There's just no way that can be offside. The only way the AR could even think it was offside is if he lost sight of the goalkeeper.
I don't think Gonzalez had a great game. The problem was that he set the bar really low early and then let the reins off is a big way after he showed Adu a second yellow. Obviously you can justify both, but I don't think Gozalez used his head here and I think he went to the pocket before realizing it was number two for Adu. What was a yellow early w just a foul later and he basically put the whistle away in the last 10 minutes. There's a slippery slope here, but Adu was sensational this afternoon. That's what I'm paying to see. I'm not paying to see a fussy referee. Beyond this, I'm having a tough time understanding Gonzalez' relative position on the MLS panel. Even without controversy, his first visit th Philly last year resulted in Williams being sent off after complaining nothing was called on a play the USSF later said should have been red, he doesn't look comfortable managing a game. I think that's the real proble here, he used the early cards as a crutch and got himself in trouble and made the game worse as a result. I'm not sure what happened there. I'm not certain it was out either but my seats are 20 yards up the line.
I know what you're saying, Bill, but I don't think Gonzalez was fussy. Adu forced him to make both calls. He made an incredibly stupid and dangerous tackle 5 minutes into the match. Gonzalez would have been well within his rights to send him off there, but--probably partially due to the logic you are espousing--he opted to keep him in the game. Yes, Adu was brilliant for the next 40 minutes. But then he tried to force a penalty decision and cheat the game. I don't think too many people would be saying a word about the dive caution if Adu wasn't already on a yellow. And he was more than deservedly on that yellow. You and I usually see eye-to-eye on most things, but I've got to disagree here. If Adu is going to have a brilliant afternoon, that's not carte blanche to then commit dangerous tackles and dive for penalties. The onus is on Adu to stay in the game.
I honestly, at the game, didn't have a good view of the first card so I trust your assessment. I'm not suggesting a player get carte Blanche but we rarely see a second caution for that and we had a referee put on the pike last year for showing a second yellow to scoring player who jumped the ad boards. I have conceded that both cards we justifiable as well. I think that type of card was added to make the game better. In this case it made it worse and it is not something I expect from a more experienced referee. I will say that I'd have far less of an issue with this if Gonzalez didn't completely change his approach to the game after the red.
I didn't see this at all. I saw him still calling fouls, and handling the game just fine. He called it tight early so he didn't have to crack down later. Adu made dumb decisions.
For me the issue here is that i don't think he dived. Not once did he "ask for a penalty". Player came in with a tackle, adu tried to miss it and (possibly with the help of a touch) lost his footing (i just watched replay, there may have been a faint touch). If he turned around, hands in the air and appealed, i'd see the need for yellow. He didn't. Add to that - the ref was looking through what looked like 4 or 5 players to make the decision. There was absolutely no reason that Adu would have went down there. He was destroying the Red Bulls, and would have had another shot. There was nothing at all in my opinion for the ref to give a YC for a dive. What makes it worse is that this is a "judgement call" from the ref. He could very easily (and imo should have) said no penalty (i don't think it was) and let the game go. Instead - we are all talking about the ref which should never happen. (and now i hear he was the ref that sent off Sheanon last year for dissent after letting a guy away with a Red Card challenge.). The Ref was having an excellent game until then. He even called the captains together to get the players to calm down after the "revenge scisser tackle from behind" on Pajoy. There was absolutely no need to bring out that Yellow. After that point, he seemed to struggle, including allowing a player that (seemingly faking injury) had got treatment for an injury stay on the field instead of going off. While that is picky, it just shows he seemed to lose the plot a bit. Disappointing how it ended today, and it was very enjoyable, despite the ref making sure he is talked about more than an absolutely outstanding game.
When surrounded by players in the box...there is absolutely a reason to go down easily. Seeing as how Phili fans are now going to just argue anything I think this thread is concluded. You ref your games how you see fit, Gonzales reffed this game how I would like it to be reffed.