MLS Week 10 Reports: Great week by MLS referees

Houston 0-1 San Jose                               Referee: Ricardo Salazar (United States)
Salazar continued his strong early-season form with a good match today.
57th Minute: Houston's Oscar Garcia brings the ball through two defenders right in front of the goal. San Jose Goalie David Bingham lucks out when Garcia takes a poor touch, but still has to foul the striker because their momentum was destined for a collision. Salazar correctly points to the spot but doesn't send Bingham off since it wasn't an Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity.

Real Salt Lake 0-0 LA Galaxy                 Referee: Jose Carlos Rivero (United States)
Rivero, another referee who has been strong recently, had a very good effort in this match.
90th Minute: Jamison Olave pulls back LA Defender Omar Gonzalez as he tries to advance on a free kick. Rivero initially signals a dive against Gonzalez, but points to the spot after appearing to take a look at AR Fabio Tovar, who was signaling for a penalty. To me, it looked like there was enough contact to warrant a penalty kick, so I have to give compliments to the referees for working together to get the call right.

Orlando 2-2 New England                        Referee: Ted Unkel (United States)
Unkel had a good match in an exciting competition between these two teams. No controversy here.

Colorado 1-1 San Jose                               Referee: Baldomero Toledo (United States)
No controversy for the veteran referee Toledo. Nice work by him and his crew.

Chicago 1-2 Real Salt Lake                       Referee: Drew Fischer (Canada)
Fischer had another good match and could be a Gold Cup candidate as soon as 2017 in my opinion.
87th Minute: Elías Vázquez tries to make a sliding challenge on Shaun Maloney in the box. Maloney pulls the ball to the side and moves, but Vazquez's momentum still carries him to trip up Maloney. This was a cut and dry penalty for me, and Fischer agrees. Good penalty call by the young Canadian referee.

Montreal 1-2 Portland                                Referee: Mark Geiger (United States)
Geiger had a decent match, though I think he could have called a few more fouls against Portland.
78th Minute: Montreal think they have equalized at 2, but Geiger goes over to talk to AR Eric Boria, with the two deciding that Jack McInerney had pushed off of Jack Jewsbury right before scoring. When I look at the replays, it is clear that the two World Cup refs got it absolutely right. Absolutely outstanding spot by Boria.

DC United 1-1 Sporting Kansas City         Referee: Armando Villarreal (United States)
Villarreal had a good match with little controversy. There was also one very good offside call from AR Kyle Longville to deny a KC goal. Nice work by the entire crew.

Vancouver 3-0 Philadelphia                        Referee: Ismail Elfath (United States)
Elfath had one very tough call in a match he handled very well in my opinion.
78th Minute: Philly Defender Richie Marquez goes in with his studs up on the airborne ankle of Cristian Techera. It is on the border between red and yellow for me, but Elfath confidently shows a red. Very tough for me, but I think it was a red because of how high the challenge was.

Columbus 3-2 Seattle                                  Referee: Edvin Jurisevic (United States)
Jurisevic was strong in this game, but one AR decision drew questions from me.
75th Minute: Clint Dempsey narrows the score to 3-2 after firing in a rebound from a Obafemi Martins shot. The only problem is that Dempsey was offsides when the ball was played. Even though Dempsey didn't take the original shot, AR Jonathan Johnson still should have flagged him for offsides since by scoring he made himself part of the play. Tough call, but still a missed call by Johnson.

FC Dallas 2-1 LA Galaxy                          Referee: Kevin Stott (United States)
Only controversy for Stott came on disallowed LA goal because of an offside screen on the goalkeeper. Good call there by Stott, who was decent throughout the rest of the match.

Toronto 1-2 Houston                                  Referee: Chris Penso (United States)
Penso had one penalty call in this match, and he got it right.
43rd Minute: Toronto's Michael Bradley slides in on World Cup teammate Demarcus Beasley in the box, getting all of Beasley and none of the ball. This was a pretty simple penalty call for Penso, who correctly pointed to the spot.

New York Red Bulls 2-1 NYCFC             Referee: Alan Kelly (Ireland)
Kelly, as well as ARs Brian Dunn and Peter Manikowski, had a very good game in the first New York derby.
36th Minute: New York's Matt Miazga, already booked, pushes over Khiry Shelton on a promising attack. Kelly correctly gives Miazga a second yellow. Good call by the longtime League of Island referee.

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