Commentary
The MLS goalkeeper honeymoon continues
- by Paul Gardner , May 6, 2013
By Paul Gardner
What's this? An MLS goalkeeper ejected? Now there's something you don't see too often, so Chivas USA's Dan Kennedy can feel a bit hard done by ...
really, all he did was trip Paulo Nagamura in the box. Sure, Nagamura was in scoring position, but referees are apt to give the penalty kick and then take pity on the keeper and give him only a
yellow.
But referee Baldomero Toledo is made of sterner stuff. He gave the penalty -- and he ejected Kennedy. Elsewhere in MLS this weekend, it was business as usual, and the customary
be-nice-to-keepers policy was operating normally.
The Houston Dynamo’s Tally Hall was the most obvious beneficiary. Under the complacent eye of referee Allen Chapman, Hall got away
with two offenses in quick succession. In the 25th minute we got one of those increasingly familiar scenarios in which a goalkeeper comes racing out of his goal and demolishes an opposing forward ...
in the penalty area. So Hall duly flattened the L.A. Galaxy’s Jose Villarreal.
A penalty kick to the Galaxy, then, and a red card to Hall for denying an obvious goalscoring
opportunity. Yes ... and no. The PK was given. But not the red card -- because that’s when the devious and dubious rationalizations about the definition of “obvious” take over.
Soccer’s by now well-established antipathy to goalscoring comes into play and a host of reasons for not giving the red card are advanced -- well, it wasn’t really an obvious
chance, there was another defender somewhere near, the forward was too far from goal, the angle was too tight, and possibly the get-out that was used here: the attacker was not heading directly for
the goal.
Villarreal was, originally, heading for goal. But he started to move to his right to side-step Hall (yes, surprisingly, forwards do try to avoid getting clobbered by
wildly charging goalkeepers). Hall missed the ball by about two yards -- but he got all of Villarreal.
The “not heading for goal” argument is therefore tenuous, at best. But
even if one accepts it, there is still the fact that Hall’s challenge on Villarreal was late, violent and reckless. Very definitely a yellow card foul, and borderline red. But referee Chapman
gave no card, neither yellow nor red.
There was another curious pro-goalkeeper angle to this one. Chapman’s assistant referee had a perfect view of the action, yet he never raised
and waved his flag (something that ARs now do to indicate a foul).
Hall’s lucky day was not over yet. Minutes later he saved Landon Donovan’s poorly taken penalty kick. But
what were Chapman and that AR of his looking at? Hall was a clear yard forward from his line (with both feet) before Donovan struck his kick. He was allowed to get away with that, too -- allowed to
become the hero of an incident, when he should have been the villain.
There were more goalkeeper adventures in the Real Salt Lake-Vancouver game. As Luis Gil scored Real’s first
goal, he was badly fouled by Vancouver’s keeper, Joe Cannon. Exactly what Cannon was trying to do as Gil dived forward to meet Joao Plata’s cross, only Cannon knows. But it ended up being
another of these clumsy, dangerous, goalkeeper challenges that get nowhere near the ball. Gil got there first and headed the ball home -- he was then whacked by Cannon with the sort of reckless
“tackle” that would surely demand at least a yellow card if carried out by a field player.
But referee Juan Guzman let it all go. No card for Cannon. Gil played on for another
six minutes before having to hobble off to have his right ankle swathed in ice.
By a rather extraordinary set of events, Real’s goalkeeper, Nick Rimando, had also played a role -- a
much more positive one -- in Gil’s goal. It was a quickly taken long goal-kick from Rimando that started the action, finding the sprinting Plata, who crossed the ball to Gil. Well executed, but
pretty straightforward, action.
But not for commentator Brian Dunseth, who went into orgasmic mode to describe the apparent brilliance of Rimando’s long ball (the only keeper in MLS
capable of doing that, or even thinking of it, it seems -- that’ll tell the rest of you guys). Well, yes, but the only thing unusual about the long ball was that it came from the goalkeeper --
it was the sort of long pass that any defender, spotting a gap in the opposing defense, would make.
No matter, the goalkeeper involvement made it special for Dunseth. A sort of novelty
goal. He declared it a sure-fire goal-of-the-week -- if it’s not, then there’s something wrong, he insisted.
As it happened, later in the game there was a much better
goal-of-the-week candidate scored by Real after a splendidly quick and crisp eight-pass sequence, featuring six different players. This one also started back in the Real penalty area, where defender
Nat Borchers won the ball in a tackle and flicked it to Tony Beltran. From there it went up to Joao Plata who, after a neat give-and-go with Devon Sandoval, passed to Javier Morales, moving quickly
into the Vancouver half. Morales passed forward to Sebastian Velasquez who niftily evaded a tackle and slipped a beauty of a pass forward to Plata -- Plata’s pass in to Morales was also perfect,
and Morales finished the move by clipping the ball past Cannon from six yards. Great passing, ball on the ground all the way, great player movement, super finish.
A goal-of-the-week
possibility? I’d say so, for sure. But I’m not about to underestimate the appeal of a goalkeeper-novelty goal.
Still looking for Hackett lurking on the grassy knoll, Paul? I didn't see much in Hall's foul. Striker was not going to have a clear chance to play that ball after the long pass into the box. DOGSO requires:
*Distance to goal
*Distance to ball
*Defender position/location and number
*Direction to goal
That example fails the Distance to ball requirement.
I would be much more inclined to give at least a yellow to the Houston defender who hacked Magee in the box in the 84th minute--poor refereeing there.
Paul, assistant referees have always wiggled their flag to indicate a foul, so unless I'm missing what you said, that's nothing new. Additionally, usually an AR will not signal fouls that are clearly seen by the referee, and since the referee called this foul, I'm not sure why you're faulting the AR for not signaling it. Finally, the goalkeeper is a unique position; as the last defender, the goalkeeper is much more likely to be shown a red card for a foul that would otherwise not even merit a card (had the keeper not been the last man, and therefore DGSO). I'm not talking about a cynical "I'm going to take the card instead of give up a goal" calculation, I mean the slight misjudgment that trips the opponent. Until there is a specific allowance for that, referees will avoid throwing people out for non-malicious, non-tactical fouls (and they should). Besides, getting the penalty kick is often more important than the card (certainly late in the game). So don't be too hard on the refs.
I personally find most MLS referees too lenient overall; but you need to know what advice and suggestions they get from their bosses, assigners, etc. Moreover, how much do they want to continue doing this games...
R2 Dad, I'll agree it might not be the goal scoring opportunity red, but honestly the outcome would have been a 80% sure goal if Hall doesn't come flying through the player. Segway next point; if a defender or midfielder criminally challenged a player like that, both at professional full speed, it's straight red. No questions asked, no doubt. Watch the replay and tell me that you can argue any other way. He wasn't even issued a yellow for a potentially leg breaking tackle! Villareal was lucky enough to get out of the way, if not, he's done for the year.
This weekend US Soccer Channels will INTERRUPT ALL BROADCASTING TO PRESENT A
VERY FEW COUNTRIES IN THE FOOTBALL WORLD CAN COMPARE WITH THE "SPORTING PASSION IN GREECE!"
"SPECIAL SPORTS PRESENTATION! THE GREEK CUP FINAL!!! OLYMPIAKOS PIREAUS V ASTERAS TRIPOLI. ATHENIAN V PELOPONNESE WAR REENACTED IN FOOTBALL!
VENUE: ATHENS OLYMPIC STADIUM ATTENDANCE 80.000 SOLD OUT!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVlNXXTcDYc&list=PLAF2F8244347E2FC8
Speaking of goalkeepers, will Roy Carroll get the start in the Greek Cup Final? 18.000.000 Greeks with 2.000.000 in the United States and 250.000 in Canada will be wondering...doubtful...the 23 year old Hungarian International Magyeri and the Greek U-20 International Gianniotis are 1 and 2...however, experience is vital in this one! We'll see.
I'm no advocate of full-blooded, crunching tackles as entertainment but Hall's tackle was the result of a 50-50 ball and as everyone is aware (Holden) people get injured in those situations. The keeper has no "right" to the ball or to injure the player, but neither does the attacker. It's not a straight red unless the keeper goes for the player instead of the ball (+ the other excessive force requirements) and that doesn't appear to be the case. If anything there is excessive force with both parties but would you throw 2 players out for it?
The actions of the AR in the Hall case aren't mysterious, really. First, each referee has a style, and s/he will inform the AR what s/he expects from them. Second, as an AR, you don't raise the flag on every foul. You do so usually when you have the better position. If the referee is equally or better positioned for that foul and can clearly see the play, the AR will not raise the flag. Also there is the radio to consider; I have no experience with two-way radio communications such as MLS refs use, but that could also be a factor in the AR not raising the flag. As for Hall leaving his line early, that is a problem, especially when it is enforced sporadically, as it so often is.
GOTW is another sore subject. That nifty sequence will likely not even be considered, precisely because it involved so many players and movements. Not easily summarized in a nice, neat highlight, and the goal itself isn't spectacular. Years ago when DC United were great I remember them scoring a goal after a sustained bit of possession where something like 20 passes were made and completed before the defense was undone and United scored. Probably the best thing I've ever seen in MLS. I don't think it made GOTW consideration.