Skip to main content

Oh No, Don't Give MLS Refs Ideas!

Referee Sends Off An Entire Team In Argentina
Violence in Argentinian football is not exactly an uncommon occurrence at the moment but last Saturday a situation erupted that was far from normal.

Days after clashes in the game between Godoy Cruz and San Martin, an encounter in Primera C ended with one team having all their players sent off, including substitutes.

Barracas Bolivar and General Lamadrid were the two teams involved, and when the incident occurred the home side were leading 3-0.

However, with 60 minutes gone the game had to be abandoned after what can only be described as an extraordinary series of events.

It started when three players and four staff from Lamadrid became involved in a dispute between the local fans of Bolivar.

The incident soon escalated and within moments all the players from the away side came over to defend their team-mates and staff, clashing with the supporters.

Plenty of punches were thrown and the violence had to be broken up by some of those present at the stadium.

In seeing what had happened, the referee decided to issue 18 red cards to the away team, sending off not just the eleven players on the pitch, but also the seven substitutes.

Not only did the decision destroy that encounter, but it means Lamadrid will have to play with a team full of reserve players in the next match.

That is pretty bad when a ref allows home fans to goad a team into such a fate.

Of course, now the precedent has been set....what should we do to the Fire??

Hmmm....

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Early Thoughts on City 2025

There are few things harder to keep track of than an MLS side in their off-season, at least for me. Despite the fact it takes place roughly during the time the MLB Hot Stove season is in full swing, it is nowhere near as easy to follow along with as baseball. Part of it is how disconnected MLS is with the international soccer calendar. St. Louis City SC is still digesting the moves it made last summer even though those players have already played important games for the club. It is all weird and disjointed, and I always feel like I am playing catch-up. Happily, the moves made in the off-season this year were not numerous.  German Timo Baumgartl comes over from Europe as an option at center back, which is good because that was a position that was a little rocky for City last season. Given his own troubles over the last few seasons (cancer and uneven play in the aftermath of that), a spell with City can give Baumgartl a chance to have a re-set. Given his pedigree and the fact City si...

A Note of Optimism About the Note

 If you have been trying to watch the St. Louis Blues attempt to play hockey of late it would be hard to believe the word optimism could ever be in play. The losses continue relentlessly, often in the "never in the game" style, but increasingly in a "lose from winning position" flair which is enough to make someone turn on the news for an upbeat change of pace. (Wow, plane crashes and LUNACY!) This team still can't score with the regularity needed to win consistently in this league. The coaching staff knows they have precious few natural goal scorers (one is precious few), so they attempt to make up for it by getting what I call "process" goals, i.e. goals scored by virtue of constant pressure, crazy bounces, accidental deflections, etc. Basically, any goal you can get from a player who doesn't have the knack for scoring them on their own. The Blues are something like zero for their last 12-15 breakaway chances, and zero for their last 25-30 2 on 1...

Blues Beat Bugbear

 The St. Louis Blues have not had many out-of-character results so far this season. For the most part they have been handling the teams they usually handle and doing nothing against the teams that seem to always have their number. There is some solace to be had just knowing that you are going to probably beat Calgary, and will probably lose to Columbus, just as the sun will most likely rise in the East tomorrow. Granted that isn't an ideal set of affairs for a sports team, but Blues fans have learned to take what they can get. Which is why it is fair to say last night's victory over Utah was unusual. The Blues do not play well against that collection of players. Ever. So, any victory would be noteworthy in this matchup, but the resilience they showed last night was an added bonus. The Blues still have crappy puck luck, but last night they didn't let it get them down and, miracle of miracles, the puck luck evened out for the game. For a change the PK wasn't always runnin...