Monday Morning Centre Back: Getting Away With One
by Zach Woosley on Oct 17, 2011 11:03 AM CDT
in Monday Morning Centre Back
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PrintYou could make a case that the key moment of the Houston Dynamo's 2-0 victory over the Portland Timbers on Friday came in the 51st minute. After a hard collision between Danny Cruz and Timbers defender Mike Chabala, match referee Baldomero Toledo elected to give Cruz a yellow card for a reckless foul. Toledo's decision that the contact did not cross the line between a yellow and red card, not only kept the Dynamo with 11-men on the field, but it ensured Cruz was still in the game to unleash his wicked second goal.
How you feel about the foul and Toledo's call likely comes down to your team affiliation and much like Thierry Henry's red card on Saturday, there is room for interpretation. It looked dangerous but I don't think there was any maliciousness at all in the play and certainly no intent by Cruz to injure Chabala. Given Toldeo's track record you could have easily seen him give a red card but he held back.
USSF referees are given the following mental checklist to go through when determining the severity of a tackle and the proper punishment.
- Distance traveled, which helps determine the speed, and therefore the force of the challenge
- Whether an attempt was made to play the ball, which helps determine its aggressive nature
- The direction of the challenge
- The position of the feet at the time of the challenge
- The ability to play the ball.
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You are right Ginge. We got very lucky that Cruz didn’t get himself tossed right there, as really, who really would have argued in good conscience to the contrary if the card had been red?
As it is, I’m quite happy Toledo went for the yellow and hope the league office does not come down on Cruz after the fact.
"We don't care who finishes second." -- Celtic's Peter Lowrie
We're lucky Cruz didn't get tossed
because it could have been interpreted as a red, but it was a yellow. Cruz DID attempt to play the ball. The only reason Chewy ended up with a large knock rather than a small knock was because of how he approached the ball – with a lot of hesitation.
Red card
That’s a red card no matter the player/team or even league or level for that matter. You’re exactly right. Cruz wasn’t playing the ball and no doubt to me it wasn’t intentionally meant to hurt, as Cruz was trying to stop a break opportunity.
All that said (and I’m a Timber’s fan) that non-call isn’t probably why the Timbers lost the game. It did put the nail in the coffin though.
Agree Chris. If Kenny Cooper had learned somehow before the game that when you shoot, it’s important to put the ball between the goal posts rather than on either side or above, then the game might have been different no matter the card issued against Cruz.
"We don't care who finishes second." -- Celtic's Peter Lowrie
Sorry
I mean, one could argue its a red and I wouldn’t necessarily dispute it, but Toledo had allowed such a wide latitude at that point that given that context (and Cruz’ play up until then) that apparently he felt yellow was more appropriate.
All the same, sorry…I think there’s kinship between Houston & Portland for fairly obvious reasons, so it sucks that the result put you guys in a huge hole. We are mere playthings for the footballing gods (and we know this, we’ve felt like Odysseus all season)
50 50 ball
u must challenge hard for any 50 50 ball. Chew did not and got the worst of it. Ref was right not a red card just a hard challenge for a 50 50 ball.
Go Dynamos
Watson & Camargo challenges
In my mind Camargo had some hard contact in the box that could have resulted in a PK.
Watson had some hard challenges in the last minutes of the match too.
For me
and I’ll have to honestly re-play the game, but I don’t remember up to that point Cruz being involved in any “d’oh” moments other than run-of-the-mill contact that had been happening all game. Toledo, for better or for worse, let the players play rugby-lite out there. I have to say, I was cringing at quite a few tackles made by both sides and if I’m being honest, we probably got away with several. And it was perhaps the physical nature of the game and the fact that up until then, Cruz hadn’t had any particularly harsh challenges might have been a mitigating factor here. I guess put it this way: it was a fair challenge but a stupid play and reaction. Honestly, it IS a 50-50 ball but what got him the card was when he put his arms out as he made contact. For Cruz I’m pretty sure that was more a defensive reaction but it definitely warranted a card. A stupid foul but I don’t think a cynical one.
That being said...
I felt bad for Chewy. He’s a good kid and it really sucks watching someone get KTFO. I hope there wasn’t any concussion-related issues from it, he’s had very good form at Portland and I hope he can continue it there
Oh and another thing
Kinnear better praise and blast Cruz after that match. If he’s not careful he’s going to become Watson-lite: brilliance intertwined with stupidity. At least Cruz’ only saving grace at this point is youthful naïveté
The last thing we need is to drop Watson after the season only to replace him with an understudy. Cruz, I love your energy and enthusiasm but get yo’ s**t straight
Finally
being the recipient of some odd cards this season we’ve seen games called softly and some called for looking at someone wrong. I realize the refs aren’t perfect and they do want to see the game played but how they set the tone can make for some strange results. If they call it too tightly then you get flopping and lots of stoppage; call it too loosely and people can get hurt. I do hope USSF reviews performances over the course of the year to get an idea of how an “average” game is called and see how much deviation there is. I know this sounds off and all and I realize Gulati et al probably just pissed themselves laughing at that but really, the last thing you want is this type of reffing to affect the playoffs (and I really think it will, particularly this year)
the henry foul and cruz’s are worlds apart in my book. cruz went into a 50/50 just wildly recklessly, considering the contact to chabala’s head it could very well have been a red, but i don’t think he lead with his elbow or even followed through with it. It looked to me that the contact was almost entirely from cruz’s shoulder/chest and this is probably why the ref gave him a yellow. Henry on the other hand was a clear retaliation attack on a player, henry is quite known for acting like a child after a play (ask freeman or hartman).
by Futbol anonymous on Oct 17, 2011 1:05 PM CDT reply actions
I only compared the two incidents in the sense that a referee’s interpretation of the event was key to the decision. Beyond that, they had nothing in common.
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by Zach Woosley on Oct 17, 2011 1:15 PM CDT up reply actions
Cruz is Reckless
It’s what makes him the player he is, gotta take the good with the bad. He didn’t even really make a play at the ball. Looked like he saw Chewie coming and slipped into football mode.
Small guys play different
One thing that was not brought up is that small guys sometimes play harder to over come their lack of size. He was using his speed to try to get a touch on the ball and saw he could not and protected himself. Chewie saw that and held up and took the hit. The ref saw that and gave him the yellow and not the red.
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