MLS Week 4 Reports: Referees regress in Week 4

New England 2-1 San José                  Referee: José Carlos Rivero (United States)
Rivero got an extremely tough assignment in the snow of Foxborough, and there was one incident that caught my eye.
60th Minute: Rivero judges New England's Scott Caldwell to have clipped Clarence Goodson in the box. Personally, I am having a hard time seeing any contact by Caldwell, so I have to disagree with Rivero's decision.

Montreal 2-2 Orlando                           Referee: Ted Unkel (United States)
Unkel had a mediocre performance in Montreal, and I think there is room for improvement.
14th Minute: Unkel calls a hand ball on Orlando's Sean St Ledger in the box after the ball comes off fellow Orlando defender's head onto his outstretched arm. My problem with the call is that the defender's head was maybe 2 feet away from St Ledger's arm. That was no time for St Ledger to be expected to react, so I question the legitimacy of the penalty.

New York City FC 0-1 Sporting KC   Referee: Edvin Jurisevic (United Sates)
Jurisevic, decent throughout, originally made a mistake in what would have been a crucial call, but did well to work with his assistants to make the right call.
68th Minute: Jurisevic points to the spot after he judges a handball against Sporting KC. Here's the problem: The handball should have been called on NYCFC's Andrew Jacobson. Luckily, Jurisevic, his  assistants James Conlee and Brian Dunn, and fourth official Alex Chilowicz come to the conclusion that there was no contact by any SKC defender. For some reason, though, they call a drop ball instead of a free kick to Sporting KC. Regardless, good job consulting with his assistants by Jurisevic.

Columbus 1-2 New York                      Referee: Sorin Stoica (Canada)
Stoica had another tough match in his second assignment of the year, but this time he struggled.
50th Minute: Red Bull Midfielder Lloyd Sam is hacked down in the box by Emanuel Pogatetz. No doubt about this one, but some will argue that Sam should have been called for a PK earlier for a similar challenge he committed on a Crew player.
83rd Minute: Columbus' Federico Higuain is called for an obstruction foul against Felipe, and reacts angrily for a prolonged period of time. I agree with the second yellow for dissent, but not with the original foul call. There is no way that is a foul for me, since Felipe made more contact if anything.

DC United 1-0 LA Galaxy                    Referee: Ismail Elfath (United States)
Elfath was the first referee on Saturday to put in a good game free of controversy. He deserves credit for not blowing the whistle Galaxy defender Robbie Rodgers and DC forward Chris Pontius were battling for position right during the build up to Pontius' late goal. The aggressor clearly was Rodgers and Elfath does well to wait and see instead of prematurely calling what probably would have been a penalty to DC. 

Vancouver 2-1 Portland                         Referee: Allen Chapman (United States)
Chapman had a pretty good game, but many wanted harsher punishment on Gershon Koffie for a studs-up challenge.
12th Minute: Vancouver's Gershon Koffie comes in studs up on Maximiliano Urruti. It's bordering on a red card but I would have to barely lean towards agreeing with Chapman, mainly because it seems like Koffie lost his footing a bit before the challenge. 

Dallas 0-0 Seattle                                   Referee: Kevin Stott (United States)
Stott was outstanding in Dallas and looked like the ref who represented the US at the 2006 World Cup.
17th Minute: Dallas' Kellyn Acosta puts his studs into the stomach of a Sounders player. After playing advantage, Stott goes back to the foul and sends off Acosta. The decision to play on knowing a red was a strong possibility was unusual, but the important thing is that he got the red card absolutely right in the end.

Chicago 1-0 Philadelphia                       Referee: David Gantar (Canada)
Gantar had an extremely tough match to deal with, and I think he got one out of his two crucial calls right.
20th Minute: Chicago want a penalty after a bouncing ball strikes the outstretched arm of a Union defender. It was impossible for Gantar to spot, but I think Chicago has a case because the arm was not tucked in.
71st Minute: Philadelphia's Fred punches the face of a Fire defender. Hard to judge intent, but Gantar had a better angle, so I'll agree with his red card decision.

Houston 0-0 Colorado                            Referee: Marcos de Oliveira (United States?)
The selection of de Oliveira struck me as odd given that de Oliveira is listed only as a fourth official on the MLS referee list. The reason couldn't have been lack of available MLS referees, since regular official Juan Guzman served as a fourth official. Regardless, de Oliveira made no decisions that showed that his opinion wasn't warranted. 

Salt Lake 2-1 Toronto                            Referee: Hilario Grajeda (United States)
Grajeda struggled in this match, his key blown decision being disallowing Nick Hagglund's goal. 
73rd Minute: Nick Hagglund of Toronto gets a header goal disallowed for what Grajeda deems a push in the back of Chris Schuler. To me, there seems to be a lack of contact from Hagglund and a large amount of contact from Schuler. Huge mistake by Grajeda.

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