New England Revolution Upset Over Officiating

"It is a complete joke. It's a travesty, and there needs to be some accountability for that decision, because we lost two points because of that decision."

Photo By J. Alexander Dolan

If you are more of an audiophile, you can listen to Caleb Porter’s full press conference below but we are a written content outlet so let’s talk about the two most impactful moments of the New England Revolution’s 2-2 draw to St. Louis City SC.

Luca Langoni was subbed off in the 72nd minute and was supposed to be replaced by Nacho Gil but that didn’t happen. The newly acquired winger took more than 10 seconds to come off the field and that meant Gil had to wait a minimum of a minute to enter the game as New England played a man down.

Of course, St. Louis tied the match while the Revolution were down a man, leaving head coach Caleb Porter and the Gil brothers furious. Porter remained frustrated after the match.

“Then, the second part of the joke show, clown show, was giving us a penalty for not getting out of the game,” Porter said. “Luca [Langoni] was coming out of the game because he was injured… He couldn't sprint any faster to get out of the game. He couldn't get out of the game any faster. Initially, he walked, yes, but then he sprinted out of the game as fast as he could. The referee told me that it was 14 seconds. Fourteen seconds it took him to get out of the game. So, because he is four seconds late because he can't sprint any faster, they penalize us and we end up giving away a goal during that penalty. The game isn't meant to be played this way. It's an absolute joke. You're supposed to, as an official, use your discretion in those moments. He did not use his discretion in either of those moments.”

After the match, Langoni said that he didn’t understand this particular rule.

“So I'm just a little frustrated by it, because I just didn't understand what was going on,” he said.

“No other league really has that,” he later added. “It’s a little not logical. That’s weird but I have to take this as a learning lesson for the next one.”

Porter and Langoni both mentioned that the winger was dealing with some tightness. Considering the injury, Porter was bewildered why New England was punished for being over the 10-second limit by four seconds.

“As you guys know, he has had some hamstrings [injuries], and we wanted to be smart with it,” Porter said. “But we expect a guy to sprint off, and when he is trying to get off and it's close, it's not meant to be. We've had many situations this year where guys are over 10 seconds, many times. As long as the intent is to get off the field, it should never be called a penalty if it's a couple seconds over if the guy is sprinting off. You watched the last part of it. He's trying to get off the field. It doesn't matter if he starts slow, he eventually got off. But then it's okay to kill 20 seconds on a throw-in and 30 seconds on a goal kick? But when we sub, we are penalizing the team by making them play down a man because of that, when the intent is for him to get off the field? Like, it's laughable. This is where our league gets laughed at. Honestly, that should be played all around the world as a joke. What is MLS doing in that situation? Everybody in the locker room thinks it's a joke.”

Revolution captain Carles Gil agreed with the assertion made by his head coach that these officiating mistakes and quirky rules can paint MLS in a bad light across the global soccer landscape.

But there was more controversy as the referee went to the monitor to review what looked like a clear handball by Kyle Hiebert. Even after looking at the screen for a longer time than seemed necessary. No handball was given, leaving fans and the Revolution stunned.

Caleb Porter could not believe that even after going to the monitor, a hand ball was not called.

“We are very disappointed with the officiating,” Porter said. “It's 100 percent a penalty kick. One hundred percent. I don't know how you look honestly at the screen and decide not to give a penalty. It is a complete joke. It's a travesty, and there needs to be some accountability for that decision, because we lost two points because of that decision. We have literally had that same thing happen to us three different times where the official has been sent to the monitor, and there is a clear penalty, and the official doesn't call it. What is happening? It is mind-boggling. Mind-boggling that [the official] doesn't call that a penalty. We are the only team in the league that hasn't had one penalty. What is happening? I have never seen anything like it. For me, all I can say is a complete coward. The referee was a complete coward in that moment. Complete coward, and it's a travesty. He shouldn't officiate. He cost our players two points today, two really important points, and I'm not going to stand for it. I'm not going to stand for it. I don't care if I get fined, I don't care what Don Garber says. What Don Garber needs to do is look at that situation, look at the official in that situation, and needs to hold this official accountable.”

In the explanation that Porter received as well as media members via the pool reporter question, referee Tim Ford claimed that the arm was in a natural position and also that the ball took an unexpected deflection.

“I don't know about you guys, but I don't see guys running like this (gestures) or jumping like this (gestures),” Porter said. “He handled the ball right here. Everybody in the whole stadium saw the replay. Everybody. If that's not a penalty, if that's not a handball, I don't know what is. But the fact that he actually looked at it and decided that it wasn't. … You can't be in this job if you're a coward, if you're not competent. I like [the official] as a person, I think he's a good guy, but at the end of the day, this is our livelihood. This is these players' livelihood. We have to have a standard, and even though he is a good guy, he clearly showed today he should not be officiating in the league with those decisions. That's a win. That's a win for us that he took away.

“Everybody in the locker room doesn't understand how we have not had one penalty,” Porter added. “I've never seen that in my life, not one penalty the entire year. We're the only team in the league. … With the times that we've had, where we should have gotten penalties, where actually it is a penalty, and they go to the [video review] board, somehow. They're sent to the board. If a guy goes to the board, the VAR upstairs sends them there to go. It's a [expletive] penalty. It's a penalty. Go look at it. .. He goes and looks at it, and somehow thinks it's not a penalty. Sorry for swearing. It's my livelihood. My team fought hard today. They gave everything they had, and they got screwed.”

Gil was mentally preparing to take the penalty as he thought for sure it was a hand ball.

“Honestly, I was thinking when I can shoot the penalty because I saw a clear penalty and everyone saw that,” Gil said. But here you never know. Maybe we are going to make a record, first team, maybe ever without penalty in all the regular season. I don't know if someone had that, but maybe we'll have this record. I think it's the second or third time. I remember one time Esmir against Toronto, the VAR said to the ref, ‘Hey, you are making a mistake, go to the VAR, my guy, and he was waiting, how much? Three, four, five minutes? I think he was thinking like, ‘Okay, I need to have a good excuse for say, this is not a penalty. He said, No, it's a natural movement. Natural movement? Okay.”

Tim Ford and the Revs do have some history. Ford awarded NYCFC three first-half penalties in a game against New England on July 9, 2022.

Gil mentioned this when discussing the officiating after the match.

“I remember this guy, I think 2022, in New York, two ridiculous penalties against us with Taty Castellanos,” the captain said. “Ridiculous penalty. I don't know maybe it's our club. We don't have the respect that we deserve. I don't know.”

But unlike the officiating, Porter was happy with the performance of his players.

“I told them they were excellent today,” Porter said. “I told them that we're going to win a lot of games playing that way with the group that we have. You can see we are explosive, we are dangerous, and we are only going to get better. That front four hasn't been together very long. They are only going to get better. I thought we were electric at times in the attack. I thought there were times where, yeah, we need to gain, still, some chemistry and some cohesiveness. I thought we defended well.”

Porter wasn’t upset at the goals that New England allowed as one was scored with a man advantage and Porter viewed Henry Kessler’s goal as lucky. He also told his players that they got screwed out of three points.

“I also told them they got screwed, and yet, they have to put it behind them, and we're going to go on the road,” Porter continued. “We lost two points today because of an officiating error, but we are going to channel our energy in the right direction and that's towards going on the road and beating Orlando. And if we have to do it – get in the playoffs – the hard way by going on the road and winning on the road, then we'll do that. I like the quality that this team showed today, and I like the fight, the hunger, the intensity, and everything. That's what I told them.”