Monday Morning Gaffer: FCD vs Houston
June 28th, 2008 . 8:33 am . By: Buzz Carrick
Like almost anyone without ESPN360, I didn’t get to watch the first half of the FCD game in Houston. Still, I have a couple comments to offer. FC Dallas 1, Houston 1El Bueno (The Good)That my friends is how you steal points on the road, at least the second half was. Clog the middle part of the pitch, deny service from the wings, and steal a goal against the majority of the Houston possession. Congrats to Dallas for winning El Capitán. You can tell Dax McCarty isn’t 100% yet, but it’s so nice to have him back on the field. His awareness and passing are so vital to FCD holding onto the ball. Some of it was the formation, but a lot of it was getting Dax on the field. For about 20 minutes in the second half last year’s Juan Toja showed up. I first noticed that he was actually fouling people and winning ball. Then he began to dart forward in danger spots. He earned that goal for Cooper with his dribble down the left. Now if that could only be cultivated for 90 minutes.
I was really excited to see Eric Avila get on the field. It doesn’t even matter how he did, and he did ok, just finally getting on the field is a big step in him progress. Training just can’t simulate the intensity of a MLS game, particularly this rivalry. What happened to Houston’s vaunted defense? Yes I know Robinson was missing, and that’s huge, but they used to still be solid when he was out and last night they just weren’t as good. And how about those Houston players throwing certain people in their defense under the bus?
El Camino Central (Middle of the Road)It only took Schellas a game and a half to figure out what we already knew, this team was built to play a 3-5-2 and doesn’t really have the players to go 4-4-2 right now. Which is not to say that couldn’t be changed. The question becomes do you stick with the 3-5-2 for this year or gamble that in the next window with a signing and some trades, combined with a few developing players perhaps, that you can make a 4-4-2 squad.
No Tan Bueno (It’s Not Good)The referee was horrific, but not in favor of Dallas. Houston got jobbed on multiple calls, which while good for Dallas I suppose, still isn’t good for the MLS in genearl. There is no way Ricchetti should have stayed on the field, that’s a ridiculous wrong card. Saragosa, as much as De Rosario did throw the elbow into the chest, had about 10 fouls leading up to that and should have been carded well before that final incident. And Saragosa’s dive was pathetic. The only complaint Dallas should have was the last call on Oduro, which Schellas also thought was a foul. But given how bad the rest was in Dallas’ favor, it’s hard for FCD to complain that much.
As much as I admire Drew Moor’s game, he’s picked up a bad habit of waiting for crosses through his own box to come to him. De Rosario almost stole one form him late. Even Harkes knows you have to attack crosses through your box no matter how open and easy you think it is to get to. 7 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
The only thing about the red card / Ricchetti issue is that a lot of people misinterpret that rule… it has nothing to do with being the last man.. it has to do with denying a clear goal scoring opportunity. Was it really a clear goal scoring opportunity? Maybe.. there was another defender advancing on Holden. We were probably lucky with a few calls, but I also think the tackle on Oduro was a foul and that was a clearer goal scoring opportunity than Holden’s in my view.
The ref was Kevin Stott I think. Usually he never does us any favors.. we seem to have got him a lot in the past when playing the GALS and he has handed up some real stinkers.. funnily enough if Houston had won they would have caught the GALS.. hmm.. Nah..
I’m with you, Buzz. That tackle deserved a red card. It was a professional foul on an attacker who had a clear path to goal. I slowed it down and replayed it a bunch of times; no Dallas defender (except Sala) could’ve stopped him.
Which leads me to say that, in general, the refereeing in MLS is so incredibly naive (and poor) that improving it should now be a TOP priority at the league front office. The style of soccer has improved greatly in recent years, we’ve figured out that we need soccer-specific stadiums (get rid of the turf, please) and are building them as fast as we can, and we’ve even scrapped the stupid attempts to “Americanize” the game. And we’ve even improved the production quality and, thankfully, the commentators (there’s still room to improve there) on the tv broadcasts. Next step: The refereeing MUST improve. PLEASE. Don Garber, PLEASE.
(please)
Nathan, there is also a certain intent for the referee to interpret into all challenges. I’m not suggesting that Richetti intended to injure in that challenge, but lets take a look:the challenge was directly from behind and high up on the back of the calf, if not the knee. Richetti intended to take the player out and, given the direction (towards goal), distance (35 yards from goal), danger (high on the leg from behind), and distance to ball (no chance to get the ball)….Richetti should have been sent off.
2-cent…..Wasnt Andy Gray refreshing during this Euro. I give November as the over/under date that he’ll be on ALL soccer braodcasts for ESPN.
A lot of jumbled thoughts:
..::*Buzz – Enjoyed your write-up and have noticed the same thing about Drew. I think Saragosa only had 5 fouls for the entire match – FCD had a total of 15 for the match.
..::*2-cent – FYI – MLS does not have anything to do with referee development – that is under the jurisdiction of US Soccer – on a positive note, this year is the first year for there to be ANY full-time referees for soccer. Four of the national level US ref’s were hired to be full-time refs and help develop the skill level of referees.
..::*twotone – From your comments to ESPN programming – it would be a great addition to the announcing staff.
Chazsoccer,
“2-cent – FYI – MLS does not have anything to do with referee development.” So our professional league has nothing to do with developing and monitoring the referees that oversee its matches…? I rest my case.
The Referee Association in England is under the FA, not the Premier League, which is the same as we have here. Obviously, US Soccer works in conjunction with MLS for the referee program, but USL and PDL also get “professional” referees for their games too. Those refs come from the same pool underneath the US Soccer umbrella.
Guys,
Thanks for clearing up the details of how things work with respect to the MLS/US Soccer relationship.
But MLS needs to take the initiative with respect to developing higher caliber referees. Relying on US Soccer (or working together with them or whatever) has utterly failed for a dozen or so years. I defy you to point to a foriegn player that has come to this league and has anything good to say about our referees. The refereeing in MLS is an unmitigated joke, and it affects the fans’ enjoyment of the game by encouraging diving, professional fouls, overly physical play, reckless and stupid challenges, grabbing and pulling on jerseys, fights and altercations on the field, disrespectful displays (on tv often) to other players and the referees, and so on.
Maybe there’s some FIFA rule that says MLS can’t run the referees, I don’t know. But every game that is poorly refereed (and that’s pretty much every game) is another blot on the league’s reputation and image abraod and in the US. MLS should be taking that more seriously. You can’t find someone more willing to watch an MLS game than I am, but even I get tired of 1) the CRAPPY MLS tv commentators (Buzz, let’s you and I hire Andy Gray) and 2) the even CRAPPIER MLS refs that can’t keep themselves from ruining games.