Getty Images Referee Chris Penso had a tough night in Seattle, where the Galaxy was a poor version of itself in a 4-0 loss to Seattle.
Right away, he missed opportunities to call fouls and create a safer environment for players, one better suited for quality, skillful soccer. But we’ve visited about that before, so I won’t say too much.
(MORE: Match analysis of Seattle’s win)
Rather, I’ll let David Beckham take over. He let Penso have it over a 15th minute judgment where the man in the middle definitely got it wrong. The Galaxy’s A.J. DeLaGarza broke in alone but was sliced down from behind by Seattle left back Leo Gonzalez. It was an easy penalty kick call, and probably a yellow card too.
Except that it wasn’t. Mr. Beckham, what say you?
I probably shouldn’t say too much but I’ll tell you now an AYSO ref is better than that today. It is quite remarkable. Is it why we lost the game? No. But we definitely would have got back in the game and turned the crowd quiet. Would it have gotten us back into the game? Definitely; but we didn’t play well today and Seattle played a lot better. Big calls like that—it’s a big call in a game like this. It’s disappointing.”
Here is the play in question. You be the judge:
.
-
- studbucket - Aug 6, 2012 at 10:06 AM
-
Call could certainly go either way, but some at the game said from a better angle (ESPN only offered 2) it was clear that Gonzalez got the ball and De la Garza ran into his shoulder. Of course, they are biased, so take that for what it’s worth.
However, given that the above play was “50/50″, why not focus on some of the stuff that was clearly a yellow, if not a straight red? Like Gaul diving in 4 seconds after the play to kick Gspurning. Heck anything involving Gaul would have been fine. Mostly it was him being an oaf, but also when Tiffert had a suspect tackle on him, injuring his knee.
Overall, ref was awful all the way around last night.
-
- primingfuse - Aug 6, 2012 at 10:22 AM
-
Mmm, I was wondering how long it would take for the east coast media to make excuses for the Galaxy. First time they lost it was with Gaudette in goal, so that didn’t count, now it’s because this foul should have been worth four goals, right?
Pleasure as always to be reminded that we live in a world where Seattle teams will be marginalized to the dying breath of the media. Not a word about Gaul’s atrocities? Nope, the key play is a pretty 50-50 call in the box. For the Galaxy. Sure, makes sense to me!
I wish they had gotten that call. I would’ve taken a 4-1 victory with no excuses over a 4-0 with pointless nattering.
“he missed opportunities to call fouls and create a safer environment for players, one better suited for quality, skillful soccer. ” Looked to me like Seattle somehow figured out how to score some beautiful goals in spite of Penso’s “missed opportunities”.
-
- Steve Davis - Aug 6, 2012 at 10:32 AM
-
Dude, take a breath. First, I don’t live on the East Coast, so your argument fails on its face. Second, I’ve spent so many words beating up on A) MLS referees and B) David Beckham and the Galaxy’s sense of entitlement, that every one of your words here fall to pieces. This is one post of about 14 that we’ll do today. In the course of a week, we’ll write about 100 posts. So relax … we’ll get around to most points of view. Simple fact is, David Beckham is the face of MLS, so his quote was newsworthy. (And, yes, to your point, Gaul deserved at least two yellow cards last night. But good heavens, you saw what Real Madrid did to that guy, right? He’s having an awful week, and at this point it just feels like piling on!)
-
- primingfuse - Aug 6, 2012 at 1:06 PM
-
I know you’re not East coast based yourself, but the banner you write under certainly is… Regardless, if the purpose of the blurb was to highlight Beckham’s comments, that’s one thing. But his comments weren’t “it was a bad game all around” they were “we had opportunity stolen from us”, and seeming to tacitly endorse his remarks as you did could evoke response from readers.
Also, honestly, “take a breath”? I thought that was a fairly mild response as far as internet commenting
-
- Steve Davis - Aug 6, 2012 at 1:18 PM
-
Yeah, sometimes the Monday morning coffee kicks in with an overly savage force …
Honestly, I just wince when someone implies that I can’t have an independent opinion, one not tethered to Big Brother, The Man, East Coast bias, MLS protectionism, US Soccer protectionism, etc. … I can always be wrong. (It HAS certainly happened) but it’s because I’m wrong, not because I’m favoring the establishment.
Peace out *says in most anti-establishment hippie way possible*
-
- zoophagous - Aug 6, 2012 at 11:29 AM
-
Sounder fan here and yes that tackle by Leo was questionable. Even though it hurts me to say it Becks has a point. The officiating was terrible. I think what Becks is missing is that the bad calls went both ways. How did Gaul not get a straight red for the late studs up slide into Gspuring? And I don’t care if RM undressed him earlier in the week. Sliding into a keeper who is prone and has the ball studs up and a full 3 seconds after the play stopped should be a straight red. Period.
I think the take away is the MLS officiating is terrible. Every single week there are instances like this. I feel like the officiating may become a limiting factor for the league. How can club officials go to Europe and sell MLS to technical players if the players know they will have to deal with officiating like this?
-
- perrinbar - Aug 6, 2012 at 1:05 PM
-
I too am a Sounders fan, and I can’t tell from that angle what happened. From my seat it looked a close thing, so I’m willing to believe the fan in me sees it as a no-call. The ref was awful though, just awful. He let things get out of hand immediately. Alonso came crushing into Keane and then Keane swiped at Ozzie. It just kept getting worse because he refused to call fouls. I’m happy the Sounders one, but I’m even more happy no one was hurt, because I was sure it was going to end badly. Just shut it down early ref, that’s all we ask. Make a tough call to show you aren’t going to let the game get overly physical and everyone will settle down. When they do as this ref did, and let the harsh early stuff go, it just gets worse and worse.
-
- jamezyjamez - Aug 6, 2012 at 3:07 PM
-
Didn’t see the game but blatant PK and card based on that video. Beckham needs to criticize the officiating more often….they don’t seem to be listening to the sports writers or the fans. @Zoo – the officiating is already a limiting factor for the league imo. Watch the inconsistency of the FCD – PDX game yesterday. Kicks to the face, elbows to the face, leaving a leg in full seconds after the ball had gone…not even a warning. Somehow FCD ends up with 2 yellows. It makes the game ugly and we don’t need it as we have started to bring in some real talent to MLS who can play the game correctly. We need the officials to let that happen, even if it means sending players off every match until they figure it out…I hope it happens soon before anyone else gets hurt.
-
- Michael - Aug 6, 2012 at 3:29 PM
-
The funny thing is that Gonzalez not only got the ball but actually pulled his leg back before DeLaGarza fell. It was almost a textbook tackle, with the sole exception that Gonzalez was behind DeLaGarza – a fact that LA was hoping the ref would use as the basis for a PK call.
Yes, I can see many refs getting sucked in by that and calling the PK.
Of course, being LA, we get relentless yapping about that non-call being a “game changer.” Do you know what would have changed the game? If LA’s offensive strategy had been something other than “run into box, wave arms at ref.”
Contrary to some of the posts above, considering the two clubs and their history this was a reasonably civil match (the two-footed studs-up after-the-whistle move notwithstanding – hopefully Bruce Arena talks to Gaul about it, because I’m sure he’d like to avoid regularly playing a man down).
