MLS - October 2 - Cincinnati (RBA)
- Thread starter LionNYC
- Start date
When looking at Cincy’s second goal, I think it was really frustrating on two levels. The ref has signaled a goal kick waited 5 seconds changed his mind, and then gave a corner. That’s frustrating. Just stick to your guns once you’ve made a call. Only VAR should change a call. Then the team absolutely shut off griping about the call allowing Cincy to catch them off guard and out of position. In this case I think the ref should have blown the play dead. He gave two advantages in a row to Cincy after he originally made the call leading almost directly to a goal.
Gray can do whatever he wants in warmups if he is on during the game. The issue is if that joking/not taking seriously translates to moments on the pitch.
Plenty of guys can look like they're goofing off and laughing, but are actually super serious about the game. I'm not going to parse the way he acts. The guy has been a revelation this year, so he's clearly doing something right. He has had some awful performances, including defensively against Philly and again tonight. But generally speaking he has been very good, so I'm not going to parse the way he laughs.
300 people in the stands and we still have a knucklehead there. There is a segment of this fanbase that needs to grow the hell up.
Not to defend bad behavior, but from my spot in the 200s I didn’t hear any thing, and you really could hear everything that was being yelled all night. The most colorful thing heard was the “f*ck Acosta” chant. It was really confusing because as a fan we had no idea why Guido had stopped play. He spoke with the players, then the coaches and then just stood there holding the ball for what felt like 3 minutes before the announcer said something. IMO it just kinda agitated everyone a little more. And I understand the point is to get fans to calm down, but if they have no idea why play has stopped, then it only makes them more riotous. I agree there is no place for slurs in the game. I don’t like the “f*ck Acosta” chant either. So maybe it’s a critique of the protocol put in place by MLS or FIFA or PRO. But if the fans need to calm, you need to tell them to calm down first before you just have the official stand there with play stopped.
Overriding emotion from the night: I was just so happy for Mitja. It was a really great strike and fantastic to see his level of joy. You always want a player's first goal to also be a positive result. Hat's off to the kid.
He also was so happy for Gray's goal the other night. I think he was the second person to reach Tayvon even though he was not even on the field. To see that love for someone he competes with for playing time was delightful.
Last edited:
The growth of the league has elevated the demand for match officials faster than PRO can generate good ones.
When we started in 2015, we and Orlando were the 19th and 20th teams. Nine years later, we are at 29, and next year it will be 30.
Add to that additional fixtures for the Leagues Cup and other competitions, and that increases the demand even further.
Sadly, match officials are not like players. We can't go buy some from S. America to fill the extra teams. We have to grow them from scratch, and that takes time.
Cushing was asked about the stoppage and basically said he didn't know too many details, that something was said that was directed at Lucho and the ref was entering the protocol. Someone else has told me it was a Spanish slur different from the p word.
I thought the ref was fine. 13 minutes seemed like it was reasonable IMO considering that stoppage, the lengthy VAR review, two penalty kicks, and several other stoppages. There were moments I had disagreements with, and I don't understand why the review leading to Santi's PK took so long, but I didn't have any overall qualms with the ref.
I thought the ref was fine. 13 minutes seemed like it was reasonable IMO considering that stoppage, the lengthy VAR review, two penalty kicks, and several other stoppages. There were moments I had disagreements with, and I don't understand why the review leading to Santi's PK took so long, but I didn't have any overall qualms with the ref.
I think Crooks or Matty Lawrence on their call mentioned the Assistant Ref providing info to the ref that it went off Tayvon.
I just went back to check that audio and apparently the home radio call is no longer available, so it was the Apple TV guys. They didn't make note at all of that, so I don't know.
The same Apple TV crew that showed a shot of the Manhattan Bridge at halftime and called it the Brooklyn Bridge (apparently if you switch to the local radio call, you still get the Apple TV guys during halftime)
Even if you fix the call, I still think the quick corner makes it a double jeopardy situation after the call is changed
I kinda understand that, but he blew the whistle and made it clear the call was changed. When the initial kick to Lucho was taken, there were far more NYCFC players in the box than Cincy players. Their guys just hustled more.
I will also add that NYCFC not being ready for the corner is 100% to blame for that goal. Thiago Martins and Risa had too much space between them and that led to Cincy winning that initial header. Haak was supposed to be between them and that is why that space existed. Haak did a decent job getting back, but he never really established the proper positioning needed and then he wasn't able to attack the initial cross.
And perhaps I need to go back and look at it. I remember in real time seeing sands and Martins with their hands still raised in the air looking at the ref exasperated. As I said in my first post I agree our guys should know better and get into position even if they disagree with the call. So I agree it’s not 100% the refs fault, hell I’d say it’s 25% ref, 75% the team shutting off. But if the team is going to let in a goal, it should be because the team messed up/the opponent played well, not because of a ref’s series of decisions giving an unfair advantage to one team or another.
And the more i argue my point the more I feel like it’s just so so subjective and maybe I should just shut up. If it was the other way around I wouldn’t even be thinking twice about it. Hell, maybe I’d say damn that was expert decision making by the corner taker for catching the opponents off guard.
On that note, I kind of want to bring up the FC Cincy penalty kick. It was definitely a handball on Thiago Martins and as such, should be a penalty kick.
But also, his arm barely touched it (it still did) and the ball trajectory really wasn't changed and the outcome of him playing the ball out wasn't going to change.
I say all that not to point out the penalty shouldn't have been given, but Cincinnati didn't deserve a penalty there (these are separate items in my mind).
