A funny thing happened shortly after the first "The Ref Report", the man with the whistle became a very important part of the very next match, in front of a live TV audience. While I am no prophet, I believe fans of MLS may finally be realizing the importance of the man in the middle. Prior to the match, I commented that in "The Ref Report Power Rankings", Mark Geiger would be solidly in the #2 position. My thoughts were put to the test over the next 90 minutes...
Mark Geiger: New York Red Bulls v DC United (Eastern Conference Semi-Final Second Leg)
Contentious Decision(s): 2 shouts for handball, one straight red card, one second yellow red card, one penalty, and one retaken penalty.
Discipline: 14 fouls by New York, 2 yellows: Marquez, Marquez. 12 fouls by DC, 1 yellow: Pajoy. 1 red: Hamid
Overall Performance: Superb As we all know, the ref has to make split second decisions based solely on what he (or in some cases his assistants) has seen in real time. No replays. No slow motion. The two handball shouts are a perfect example. With the crowd baying for blood, or the players vehemently protesting, or the commentators criticizing your choice, the ref has a lonely position. In this case, though criticized on both handball calls, replay showed in both instances that Geiger got the calls right. His positioning for both was superb. Immediate reactions, mine included, were wrong, and Geiger's were correct. At this point, a friend made a comment that the ref had lost control, while I stated I believed he had been doing a superb job. Again my thoughts were soon to be tested. With the red card, Geiger was given no choice. Bill Hamid lost his mind, and he had to go. Again, Geiger made the right call. Then Kenny Cooper stepped up to take the penalty. After several minutes and a substitution for a new keeper, Cooper stepped up and slotted the penalty home. The problem being (as he did once before, that time not in DC's favor) Thierry Henry, Rafa Marquez, and Dax McCarty had all entered the box during the stutter step of Cooper's kick, all breaking the laws of the game, and Henry worst of all, doing it right in front of the ref. So much so that as the ball entered the goal, Henry looked back over his shoulder at the ref to see if he noticed the obvious. Geiger, who is known for being a stickler for the laws of the game ordered a penalty retake. Again, the correct decision. Quickly after, Marquez made a reckless challenge feet from the ref. Geiger noted the foul, played advantage, made a motion to DC United manager Ben Olsen who was going crazy on the touchline that he had seen the foul, and the play continued. Here, Geiger got it right on every level. Marquez earned a second yellow and he had to be sent off. Advantage was played, and the manager was shown respect. (It also saved the 4th official an extra ear full.)
Never in all my years of watching the sport had I seen six contentious decisions during one match, all of which the referee had made correctly. That alone was quite a feet, but Geiger easily could have lost control of the match after any one of them. He stayed steady, stayed strong, and remained in control. What easily could have been the worst referee display I had ever seen turned out to be one of the best. If not for replay, we may never have known just how good a job he had really done.
Chris Penzo: Real Salt Lake v Seattle Sounders FC (Western Conference Semi-Final Second Leg)
Contentious Decision(s): None of major note.
Discipline: 10 fouls by RSL, 13 fouls by Seattle, 1 yellow card: Alonso.
Overall Performance: Average In an overly tactical match where the ref made very few big decisions, Penzo did an adequate job. One interesting side factor though was that Penzo had taken charge of 4 Seattle Sounders matches during the season, while taking charge of no RSL matches. It showed. Penzo's interactions with Freddy Montero had to be rather disturbing if you were a RSL fan. Before the match we saw him all smiles as he patted Montero on the stomach. Later in the match when Montero made a questionable challenge, again Penzo was buddy buddy with Montero. After another questionable challenge which could have easily earned Montero a yellow card, Penzo called Montero over, took his time in waiting for the other players in the area to disperse to a point where it seemed Montero wouldn't even be talked to. Then as Montero went to put an arm around Penzo, he put on a show for the crowd pointing to both areas of the pitch Montero committed offenses and telling him several times "No more". Montero's reaction was to stand there with a stunned look on his face. As a neutral, it left a bad taste in my mouth. While he made no major mistakes, Penzo did himself no favors in my eyes for during this match.
(On a side note, for those of you who followed professional wrestling in the late 90's and early naughts, Penzo may look familiar to you. My initial reaction to seeing Penzo pre-match was to ask myself, "When did Lance Storm become a ref?".)
Thank you for reading the latest "The Ref Report". With only 5 matches left to the MLS season, the decisions made by the men in the middle will be even more important and under even more scrutiny, and who MLS chooses to take charge of those final matches will be of great interest.
Until next time, that's The Ref Report.
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