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Sunday, July 5, 2015

MLS Week 18 Reports: Kaka sees red for stomp on Morales

Seattle 1-0 DC United                             Referee: Silviu Petrescu (Canada)
Petrescu had a strong match with just one key call coming his way.
27th Minute: DC's Fabian Espindola throws an elbow at Zach Scott while trying to shield the ball. Petrescu shows Espindola a straight red and I agree since according to laws of the game throwing elbows is red card offense. Good call by the veteran referee.

Houston 1-1 Chicago                              Referee: Fotis Bazakos (United States)
Good game from Bazakos with not all that much controversy to speak of. Good match by him and his crew.

Montreal 1-2 NYCFC                             Referee: Jorge Gonzalez (United States)
Gonzalez had a very good match with not much controversy. Just one play to look at from this match.
76th Minute: Thomas McNamara of NYCFC tries to hand check a Montreal player in the box but gets his outstretched hand hit by the bouncing ball. Gonzalez calls a penalty, and I agree because McNamara's arm was in an unnatural position when it was hit by the ball.

Columbus 2-1 New York Red Bulls       Referee: Juan Guzman (United States)
Guzman had a strong performance with not much controversy. Good work by the young American ref.

Dallas 3-0 New England                         Referee: Baldomero Toledo (United States)
Good match from Toledo with no controversy. Good work by the veteran MLS referee.

Colorado 2-1 Vancouver                         Referee: Ismail Elfath (United States)
Elfath, recently selected to referee the MLS All-Star Game, had another stellar performance in a strong year. Nothing to look at from this match.

Salt Lake 1-1 Orlando                              Referee: Sorin Stoica (Canada)
Stoica had one key call to make in this matchup and I think he nailed it.
45th Minute: Orlando's Brazilian superstar Kaka puts a little too much contact on Javier Morales and knocks him to the ground. After Morales goes to ground, Kaka follows through with a stomp on his calf, prompting a red card from Stoica. For me, the call is a no-brainer given that Kaka was looking straight at Morales's calf during the stomp, but I have to commend Stoica on the guts it took to send off the man who could be the league's most popular player.

Sorin Stoica shows Kaka his first MLS red card

LA Galaxy 4-0 Toronto                            Referee: Chris Penso (United States)
Penso had another good match to add to what has been a clean season so far for him. Just one play to look at from this one.
8th Minute: LA's Sebastian Lletjet is dribbling towards goal in the penalty area when he is clipped from behind by Warren Creavalle. Easy penalty call for Penso, who correctly points to the spot.

Portland 1-0 San Jose                              Referee: Ricardo Salazar (United States)
Salazar had a quiet game with little controversy and nothing to go in depth on.

3 comments:

  1. At the end of the Houston-Chicago game, Bazakos called offside for a corner kick. Ay Yi Yi !!!

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    1. Sorry if I didn't see that in the highlights. I have noticed that the MLS will try to cover up mistakes like that.

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    2. Furthermore, it probably was not Bazakos who made the call, since offsides is usually called by the AR. My suspicion about this play is that Bazakos might have called a foul in the box that he signaled like offsides. I doubt he would make a basic mistake like that.

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