Things I liked about the MLS playoffs
While I didn't get a chance to watch all the playoff games offered by ESPN and Fox Soccer Channel, what I did saw really encouraged me about a long-standing beef I've had with the upper echelons of the USSF and the National and FIFA referees who work in the MLS: that behavior seen in the MLS trickles down to the trenches.During that last men's World Cup, I saw the amount of shirt pulling reach ridiculous proportions, and over the years, dissent and abuse has continued to rise, seemingly in-sync with the amount of dissent and verbal abuse seen in the MLS. Over the last few seasons, the USSF has, during the MLS playoffs, showed off changes to the referee uniform: the blue jersey, the logo socks and the logo shorts. This year, I saw fourth officials making players take off their jewelry, Brian Hall booking for dissent, Terry Vaughn sending off for verbal abuse (and the USSF is already sending out that Chicago-New England offside call as instructional material - huzzah!), and Kevin Stott showing consistency in booking anything that went over his line-in-the-sand.
Between moving, getting married, and my own season, I haven't watched a whole lot of MLS regular season games, so I can only hope that this has been the pattern all season. If not, hopefully it'll be for next. I hope this is a fundamental shift in how the USSF believes it should treat the professional divisions. In the past, it's been bend (if not sacrifice) the Laws for the sake of entertainment, and yes, we're still expected to take "more" when reffing a higher level game; but I believed that the reason the professional game, in any country, is popular is because while the skills and athleticism may be vastly different, the game itself is the same we play in the rec and kids' leagues. I used to hear instructors tell us not to use the MLS as self-teaching tools, but if the 2006 season plays out like the playoffs, and with the USSF's willingness to send out clips and base position papers on recent MLS activity, we might just see a change in philosophy. With maybe a bit more luck, we'll see some improved behavior and trends trickle down as well.
I thought Stott did an excellent job of consistently booking for play that crossed the line he set – until the overtime, when Franchino took out Donovan from behind. That tackle was more reckless than several that did receive bookings, but Stott demurred, as it would have been Franchino’s second. In my games, if you warrant receiving a caution, you’d better be extra careful that you don’t earn a second one; I would never let someone who was already booked get away with a play like that just so I wouldn’t have to send him off.
Ed Leafe () - 17 November '05 - 14:18