Replacement Refs Get Handsy In Atlanta
“Yeah, I definitely need to see that one back and I thought in live play, it was [a penalty] for us. I thought they missed that, but I’ll have to look at it back again."
The New England Revolution had an awful outing down in Atlanta. While the Revolution played poorly and were deserving of the loss, the officiating didn’t do them any favors.
Through two weeks, video review has been used 22 times in MLS to correct key errors. In 2023 — with PSRA officials — there were only two instances where video review was needed to fix a mistake.
Revolution fans got a clear look at the dip in quality on Saturday evening.
It all started towards the end of the first half. A loose ball in the box saw Ravas dart out of his net to try and gain possession. Georgios Giakoumakis had other plans and New England’s goalkeeper made contact with the striker.
Now the issue isn’t awarding a penalty. The issue is that the official blew the whistle while Atlanta had possession and even shot the ball into the net. The quick whistle didn’t matter as Thiago Almada would slot home a goal but the call was just another example of poor officiating.
The two calls that stand out came in the second half as Atlanta was awarded a penalty after a ball sent into the box deflected off of Nick Lima. While the ball did hit the right back in the arm/hand area, Lima appeared to have his arms in a natural position. Still a penalty was awarded and Giakoumakis tallied his first goal in the 55th minute.
Later in the second half, New England appeared to be on the opposite side of the handball call as Giacomo Vrioni mishit a shot attempt and it appeared to hit an Atlanta player in the arm/hand area. A penalty wasn’t initially given but the official eventually went to video review.
Based on the previous call made on LIma, it seemed as though New England would receive a penalty but none was given. Midfielder Ian Harkes believes that New England deserved to take a penalty shot.
“Yeah, I definitely need to see that one back and I thought in live play, it was [a penalty] for us,” Harkes said. “I thought they missed that, but I’ll have to look at it back again. And I thought the one at the start of the second half was harsh. I thought Nick [Lima]’s hands were down by his side. Again, the interpretation of the rules is always different, so we'll have to see about that. But yeah, it completely deflates our energy, but at the same time we should have picked ourselves up and gone back after them and tried to get back into the game, I think, a little bit better, have a bit better response from all of us.”
While the blown calls aren’t the lone reason that New England lost, they can not be ignored. These mistakes are only going to get worse and more prominent until a deal between MLS/PRO and PSRA is reached.
Yes the refs are bad. But the Revs are even worse. They have to stop passing the ball to the other team and to areas were we have no players. Sad we are 0-3 in MLS play.
VAR is just a disaster and seems to get worse all the time. They don't seem to know when to use it (clear and obvious is apparently just mumbo-jumbo) and when they do, they still only get it right about half the time. They should use VAR on every penalty call (like how the NFL reviews every touchdown) - just do it quickly if it's obvious.
The inconsistency on the handballs is just a travesty - probably neither should have been called.