Commentary
MLS refs, and VAR, follow English lead by going easy on physical fouls
- by Paul Gardner , Mar 5, 2018
It was rather surprising to see a badly botched offside call during the Brighton-Arsenal game because they are rare these days -- on the whole, the AR’s do a great job of getting even the closest calls correct.
Would that the referees themselves would show the same accuracy when dealing with physical fouls -- especially when they are committed by defenders in the penalty area. That English referees are slow to call physical fouls is no secret. This was Manchester City’s coach Pep Guardiola recently: “I know contact is more allowed here than in any other country, but there are limits.”
Whatever those limits are, they were surely trampled on by referee Stuart Attwell during the Brighton-Arsenal game. In the first half, he yellow-carded Arsenal defender Sead Kolasinac -- for dissent. But at the 65-minute mark Kolasinac smashed into Brighton’s Ezequiel Schelotto at full speed, violently slamming his shoulder into Schelotto’s face.
Schelotto needed over three and a half minutes of onfield treatment before he hobbled off and was substituted. Enough, surely to earn Kolasinac a second yellow, even a straight red. But not in Attwell’s view, he didn’t even whistle for a foul.
A couple of blatantly physical fouls were ignored by referee Michael Oliver in the Manchester City-Chelsea game. At 7 minutes, Chelsea’s Willian tried to start a Chelsea counterattack. He didn’t get very far, just a few yards, before City’s Oleksandr Zinchenko stepped across his path with a wild left-footed kick that got the ball and Willian’s left foot; Zinchenko’s leg then made contact with Willian’s thigh and waist. Willian was bowled over, but Oliver, a mere 3 yards away, saw nothing wrong.
Later in the first half Willian, again with the ball at his feet, was confronted by Man City defender Nicolas Otamendi, who lunged forward with his right leg. He made no contact with the ball, but by turning his body, planted his shoulder and arm into Willian’s chest, shoving him roughly to the turf. No whistle from Oliver.
We can now take a look at MLS. The refereeing here, sadly, reflects the laxity in the English game. No surprise there -- such a development was always likely when MLS made the ill-informed choice of an English ex-referee -- Peter Walton -- to head up PRO.
Of course Walton brought his English style with him -- what else would he know?
It is to be hoped that Walton’s successor, Howard Webb, another Brit, will overcome his English style bias. He might want to start by trying to work out why two really quite awful non-calls, both involving physical fouls, marred the MLS opening weekend.
As Bob Bradley’s brand new Los Angeles FC pulled off an unexpected 1-0 win over Seattle, they won’t be too upset that they were denied a penalty kick in the second half. Carlos Vela, dribbling the ball into the Seattle penalty area was crudely taken down by Handwalla Bwana. Clear to see -- no other players were involved. But referee Jose Rivero said no.
A little later that Sunday evening, the other LA team, the Galaxy, were also denied a penalty when Portland’s Marco Farfan rashly slid in on Michael Ciani, bringing him down without contacting the ball. No call from referee Jair Marrufo.
Quite possibly, not too much will be made of those two errors, because neither affected the game result. But Webb should surely want to know how two such obvious fouls were simply ignored. I think he will already know the reason. And I’m hoping that he will know what to do about it: To alter the pernicious English mindset that seems to encourage referees to avoid calling penalty kicks.
Oddly enough -- or is this also part of a conspiracy to banish penalty kicks? -- VAR, much vaunted by Webb, did not intervene in either case, although both non-calls would seem to be exactly the sort of situation that brought about the invention of the VAR.
But despair not, ye fans of VAR, all was not lost on Sunday. And it stood firm on the see-no-evil front. In the Kansas City-New York City game, Mark Geiger has the audacity to call a penalty kick against the New Yorkers. Enter the VAR, resulting in the cancellation of the penalty. Way to go, VAR.
On the other hand VAR was used to award a penalty kick for DC United in their game vs Orlando. Mr. Gardner shouldn’t cherry pick his facts to make his arguments
Actually, Paul missed a second PK not awarded to LA in the second half when Marrufo again swallowed his whistle. MLS Director of officials, Webb, talks like a con artist; and that he really is. The VAR caper is going to be a disater because people like Webb et al believe they are always right and they need an electronic gizmo to help them decide with technology; that is if the official decides to use it As for Roy G's comment, maybe the ref followed Webb's orders by limiting PK calls, and unfortunately for him, he decided to go to VAR to be proven incorrect. On the other hand, Marrufo neglected VAR throughout the LA-Portland game on two blatant fouls.
Paul, please remain on your "
soapbox" on this subject. Dont really care too much about England, but the MLS needs to do a much better job reducing the violence. Most if not all the calls mentioned did not need VAR had the ref simply done his job.
John S. makes a lot of sense. In LA v Portland game, 03/04/2018, referee Muffo, Webb's favorite, swallowed the whistle twice on blatant PKs, refused a VAR review, and was a total "intoxicated" derelict in his own personal world of dysfunctional refereeing. Nothing has changed Mr. Webb, the con artists that he is.
Well, I, for one, do care about the non-calls in the English game. With the league most watched worldwide, the whistle-swallowing tendency of EPL referees is too likely to be emulated elsewhere, as it is here in the immature US soccer culture.
J.S. "soapbox"(?)...your waving off the EPL is typical of FIFA waving off global soccer's need to get better at officiating.
Ben...FIFA is the cancer in referees not enforcing LOTG. They dictate the culture for the referees and players alike and talk a lot, but do NOTHING.