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NYRB Seeing Red in Loss to Revs

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BY MIKE NASTRI

Two red cards doomed the Red Bulls as the Revolution pulled out a victory behind Zack Schilawski's winner in the 80th minute.

Red cards to Carlos Mendes and Roy Miller put NYRB two men down and Shalrie Joseph took advantage playing a perfect chip to the streaking rookie who headed it home for the Revs first win since April, 10th.

"I timed a run there on the offside line at the  18," said Schilawski. "Shalrie [Joseph] got the ball there and laid one up and I just tried to find a gap there and make a run. Shalrie weighed that perfectly and slipped it right between the goalkeeper and defender so I could get onto it and just flipped it into the goal."

The Revs opened the scoring in the eighth minute. Shalrie Joseph chipped a perfect ball over the top of the defense to a cutting Marko Perovic who took down the ball and nailed a shot past Bouna Coundoul for the one goal lead. 

The Red Bulls would battle back, taking firm control of play after a rough opening ten minutes. In the 20th minute, Seth Stammler received a short ball from Roy Miller on the left corner of the box. It looked like Stammler intended to cross the ball, but instead ripped a shot past a diving Preston Burpo into the left side netting.

It seemed like the momentum had firmly shifted in the Red bulls favor, but four minutes later a costly mistake put the Red Bulls behind again.

Seth Sinovic played a cross into the Red Bulls box. Tim Ream tried to clear the cross, but instead headed the ball into his own net. The own goal pushed the Revs up 2-1. 

"I went up and felt I was in a great position," said Ream. "These balls are ridiculous the way they move. It dipped on me and I had to turtle to even get a head on it. It just glanced off and as soon as it glanced off my head, I knew it went in."

The Red Bulls were not deterred by the miscue and continued to push forward. In the 28th minute Dane Richards sliced and diced his way into the six yard box and was one-on-one with Burpo. The Southern New Hampshire grad came up big, stoning Richards on what easily could have been the equalizer.

Five minutes later Burpo came up big again making a sprawling save on a 35 yard laser from Roy Miller.

But, tragedy would strike the Revs' hero. Dane Richards cut through the defense on a through ball from Joel Lindpere. Burpo came out aggressive on the top of his box. Both players went in hard for the 50-50 ball and Richards inadvertently stepped on Burpo's right leg. In a disturbing sight, Burpo's leg seemingly snapped instantly and the keeper laid motionless on the ground.

Six minutes later Burpo was carted off the field to a standing ovation from the 11,376 fans at Gillette Stadium and all of the players. Burpo was transported to Mass General Hospital where it was reported he suffered a broken tibia and fibula. 

"There was no intent there, I was just trying to get the ball," said Richards. "I tried to get out of his way, but before I could that happened."

"After I was really down, but my teammates said you have to forget about it."

"We have to try to win this game. It was hard to get out of my mind because it was the first I ever seen that or been apart of something like that. I was really down about it. I was really sorry."

"You could see how upset the players on both side were, particularly Sainey [Nyassi] and [Joseph] Niouky," said head coach Steve Nicol. "So they did well and gathered themselves as well as they could. Unfortunately. there was a game to be played after that, so we just went out and made sure we were doing this for Preston."

The horrific injury set the tone for rest of the first half as both teams were noticeably bothered. It's something that one never hopes to see, but the game had to go on. The teams went into halftime to collect themselves with the Revs up 2-1, despite NYRB dominating play.

"This was a joke the first half," said head coach Hans Backe. "It was absolutely ridiculous. They had one chance and scored twice. It was one way traffic for forty five minutes. We should've been four up."

This was a game that both teams needed badly and the Red Bulls showed that with a strong performance to start the second half. 

Juan Pablo Angel equalized just three minutes into the half off a diving header. Danleigh Borman played a beautiful ball to Angel who confidently nodded it past backup keeper Bob Shuttleworth. 

"It was a good cross and I was in the right place at the right time," said Angel.

With the game tied, the Red Bulls continued to press until a second yellow card was given to a Red Bulls defender. Carlos Mendes, who received an earlier caution for late challenge on Perovic, got his second caution and ejection from another late foul on Perovic in the 56th minute.

The Revs took advantage of the man advantage and upped the pressure on NYRB. The Red Bulls defended well and even had some chances to go ahead thanks to the speedy play of Dane Richards.

Then a questionable call from referee Andrew Chapin completely changed the match in the 75th minute. Roy Miller went up for a head ball and on the way down his fist apparently grazed the face of Zak Boggs. Chapin immediately gave a red card to Roy Miller and the Red Bulls were down two men. 

"It was an absolute disgrace," said Backe. "It's ridiculous. It's a joke. When the referee decides games like this, the MLS should do an investigation because it's a total disgrace. He's [Roy Miller] not even close to hitting him."

"I never have that kind of intention to hit players," said Roy Miller. "The referee said I hear a sound like somebody was hit, but I didn't see the play. I have to respect [the call], but I don't agree at all."

"He [the referee] said he [Miller] hit him in the face, I heard it," said defender Mike Petke. "That's what he said to me unless I misunderstood him. And I don't understand what that means, 'I heard it'. And by the time I'm saying what, he was already running away."

The inevitable game winner came just five minutes later again thanks to that beautiful chip pass from Shalrie Joseph.

It was a badly needed three points for the Revolution. The team hadn't won in their last seven games and hadn't scored since May 8th coming into the match.

"We're just happy to get three points," said midfielder Chris Tierney. "The big thing tonight is Preston going down. We're so happy we were able to win it for him. He's been a warrior for us all year. It's just a tragic injury for him, but we're happy to the 'W' and get some momentum going into Seattle."

The Red Bulls played a decent game where they created a ton of chances. Some of those chances in the first half needed to be finished, a problem that has plagued the team for the past month. In the end, NYRB played well enough for at least a tie on the road, but a two man advantage for the Revs would be their undoing.

"We had this game tied at the very least," said Petke. "Down two men didn't make it easy for us. But, it was two different teams out ther
e. They just capitalized on their opportunities. It's a tough one to swallow."

Comments

  1. Both Mendes’ cards were so fully deserved, they shouldn’t even enter the discussion. In many leagues he’d get straight red for intentionally dragging down a player who was sprinting away from him.

    Both teams got flukey goals. Own goal under pressure at one end, cross ending up in the net under similar pressure.

    Miller caught Boggs in the face, there’s no doubt. Boggs reaction was instant, there’s no possibility that was a dive. Funny how an “accidental” slap in the face happens right after Boggs makes a clever touch to play the ball over Miller and then sprints by him!

    Common thread: 3 RB cards fouling Revs players who had beaten them and were breaking towards goal.

    And, if you want to want to debate whether Richards deserved a pk in the Revs area, take a look at the hand ball by the Bulls on a Revs free kick into the area.

    The difference in this game is that the bulls resorted to cheap fouls when they were beaten 1v1 and were deservedly punished for it.

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  2. You’re right that I’m comparing crap MLS officiating with crap MLS officiating. That’s the point – when you talk about officiating you compare the ref against themselves in that game, then against the standard of the league, then against the standard of FIFA (eg other leagues). I agree he was a little of all over the place against himself, so I moved on to compare him across the league and against other leagues.

    As for having to have injury shown for it to be red – poppycock and you know it. Look at any red card issue anywhere in the world. It’s not whether you succeed in injuring or “drawing blood” that earns you a red card, it’s whether what you did was meant to cause injury or was reckless. In Richards’ case, clearly reckless and caused injury. Ridiculous that he wasn’t shown red. In Miller’s case, I agree that it was neither, but I would also argue that the league is making it clear that hands flailing about when you go for a header are being treated as reckless. I don’t necessarily agree with that interpretation, but it’s been the standard that we’ve seen for the league.

    So, in short, I agree that Miller shouldn’t have seen red if the league wasn’t showing red to others for the same play. But they are, so he should have, and did. Doesn’t mean this ref should be investigated for this game, it means rather that the league should review whether that interpretation is the one they want to use.

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  3. You’re comparing crap MLS officiating to crap MLS officiating. Just because the Revs have been sent off for what you deem to be “less” in previous matches doesn’t make the ref right in his decision making in this game.

    That straight red to Roy Miller was absolute B.S. I can understand if Boggs got up bleeding or there was any visible injury. A Yellow Card is stretching it in this case.

    Replays show Boggs diving, as the all of the Revs began to do for the rest of the match following the second red in order to get free kick opportunities. We had 2 men down, and you guys couldn’t even score during the run of play.

    USSF needs to investigate this ref, period.

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  4. Horrible to watch the Burpo injury. I am a NY fan, but certainly felt as though the Revs should come away with a win at that point. The Revolution have been a pretty class team through the league’s existence. And, I wish Burpo a full recovery. The issues with the Red Bulls can wait, in my opinion. This was a weird and unfortunate game that is hard to get much insight from.

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  5. Couple of late comments from a Revs fan since I’m seeing this page for the first time. Red cards were deserved as much as the red cards the Revs have received this year. I don’t think Richands had any intent to injure, but after seeing Dube sent off for the barest of touches where there was merely a suggestion of studs showing earlier this year I was SHOCKED that Richards escaped that play without a card. Easily a red card by the standard of that earlier play. He shattered someone’s leg with the bottom of his cleat. In Europe, he’s sent off and facing a three game suspension. Here, he walks away from the play. Unprofessional is right about the ref, Red Bull fans, but not because he was over eager to pull out the card, but rather that he was too lenient not to pull one.

    On the straight Red card, we’ve had players sent off twice this year for the same play. Don’t know whether the league is focusing on it or if it’s the same guy in a different game, but it was consistent with what we’ve seen from earlier games this year.

    Great to see the Revs get the result when the team clearly wanted to win it for Burpo. That play was terrifying. I remember Joe Thiesman (sp?) from back when I was a kid – and by remember I mean I can see it right now in my head and describe it in detail – and this was the worst sports injury I’ve seen since. Definitely the worst I’ve seen in person. I’m a very religious athiest, so I won’t say my prayers are with him, but he’s been in my family’s thoughts all day. We hope that he recovers well.

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  6. The straight red on Miller is similar to the straight red Perovic received a couple of weeks ago. Elbow up near a face, red card; I don’t know if refs are being required to just issue the card, no excuses.
    Strange things always seem to happen when the Red Bulls and the Revolution meet; this game was certainly no exception. Since the Revs had to play 2 men down a few weeks ago, it was not surprising it happened again. As far as the 2nd card on Mendes went, he and Perovic had been going after each other all game, but Mendes’ challenges were rough.We thought the ref favored NY: who knows, maybe he was doing a good job (but probably not).
    We’re just praying for Burpo. As soon as he went down, we all knew something really bad happened. I had an image of his leg flapping and thought I was seeing things. It was horrible, and just a bad accident. No one thought Richards was at fault.

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  7. You hardly ever see any injury in a match as brutal as that which occurred to Burpo–and yes I was there–so in the end this was not just another game. That said, I don’t know how it affected the calls.

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  8. I did look but did not find that mention– I didn’t know exactly where to look. Put a link and I’ll go read it.

    However I think in this case you can’t really say “the intent is that your elbow is up there” since Miller didn’t have his elbows raised. Look at a replay, his arms are right next to his body, elbows pointed down. His elbow was only “up there” because he was jumping, and he didn’t jump with his elbows high or his arms flailing, it wasn’t a reckless or dangerous play. It was incidental contact.

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  9. Intention is never taken into account when someone is elbowed in the face. It’s simply incredibly illegal, your elbows should be at your sides, or close to, when you jump to avoid this.

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  10. By any chance do you guys know that there is a referee directive from the USSF that says if you connect with an elbow to the face you get a red card. Nothing about intent, just connect with it, the intent is that your elbow is up there. It’s on the USSF website if you want to look it up.

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  11. I completely agree that it was unintentional and that Richards had every right to go for that ball, but when the bottom of his foot smashes into Burpo’s leg like that, I think the way he went into the challenge has to be considered reckless and dangerous.

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  12. Challenge on Burpo wasn’t malicious, it was just an accident. I was right behind the goal and it was a horrible sight, made me dizzy at first then sick to my stomach for the rest of the night. Seeing something like that makes the game seem meaningless, I am glad the Revs won though.

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  13. The Red Bulls have had three red cards this year in two games and all thanks to Ref Andrew Chapin. He gifted NE the game. Very unprofessional ref work… I thought Toldedo and Marrufo were bad but this guys is worse!

    I feel bad for Burpo but the challenge by Richards was in no way malicious. he was just playing hard!

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  14. dont worry guys, Garber is going to give this crap ref a hefty bonus in his next paycheck. Anything to screw over NY is a win in his book

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  15. At this rate RBNY will win the US Open Cup and finish out of the running for the MLS Cup! The ‘reserves’ are taking no prisoners when given the opportunity.

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  16. I believe it was a 50/50 ball and Dane was going for it, it was unfortunate that he landed on his leg, but it was not intentional, nor malicious on his part. I am re-watching the game now,just started on msg, but from what I remember it was a 50/50. But if he got a red for that, I could have dealt with it, Dane is a liability to us in other ways.

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  17. Well, even if the 2nd red card was undeserved, Dane Richards probably should have been ejected for the challenge on Burpo. He didn’t intentionally step on his leg, but he went in so recklessly that I think a straight red was warranted.

    I didn’t see the 2nd red, though, as the only video stream I could find went out midway through the 2nd half.

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  18. Great obervation Queens this is what burns me with everygame I have gone to. Richards drives throught two or three players Angel is wide open and does not pass to him. We need service people Tchani, Garcia, and time to stard Angel with Connor Chinn or Agudelo.

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  19. Amen to that, He should have Tchani Ubi and Garcia on the pitch, Lindpere should maybe come off the bench for miller, i think we have seen Lindpere do well playing a winger role, although Miller is really top class, so that is a hard call, and lindpere is also a fighter in the central mid.

    As for Dane, did you see that play where he brought the ball all the way to goal and Angel was wide open on the far post, but Dane needed to try to take it all the way? now that was greedy and things like that make it easier to take Dane off as a starter. Bring him on when you need energy and speed, when the opposition is tired.

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  20. Can someone please tell Hans Backe to stop being a coward and play Tony Tchani in midfield Along with Ubi, put Lindpere on the left wing , he adds not thing to central Midfield IMO. he does not dictate play like UBI or Tchani does , he’s a hustler but his defense is not as great as we want to think. Bench Dane Richards.How in the world does a guy that stupid start every game and play 90 minutes??? .

    right now i cant even come up with a backline, they all suck from the goal to the center backs. Ream and Petke have combined for some of the worse central defending in the history of MLS they are soley responsibly for almost every goal scored against us in the last 4 league games.

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  21. if you take all the cards out of the equation the ref still was horrible. He wasnt consistant at all. He’d let rough tackles play on yet called ticky tack stuff.

    the red to Miller was clearly a make up call to the Revs team for (in his mind) not giving a red to richards for breaking Burpo’s leg. (which was unintentional…dane is just a retard)

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  22. The game was lost because the Red Bulls were 2 men down, yes we made our mistakes but so did the Revs, Miller was coming down from trying to head a ball, even IF he glanced the guy Which I don’t think was the case, the intention is what the call is based on and there was NO intention to elbow him, a RED for that is biased, a yellow yes, but a RED.. nope. I believe that he made the calls go for the revs. Just my opinion.

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  23. That’s going a bit too far. First of all, I don’t think there was enough camera coverage of the play to say conclusively that the ref was wrong. And even if he was, that’s pretty much par for the course in MLS refereeing. I don’t see any reason to suspect that he had an ulterior motive.

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  24. The REF WAS TOTALLY UNPROFESSIONAL. He let his emotions run this match and really made a mockery of his profession. The first call I can see, but the second call, and just making sure the revs won this one, he should be ashamed of himself. As for the Revs, i hope they feel like they won for Burpo, because they had to take us down 2 players to do it!

    Keep your heads up boys you played tremendously I am proud! GO RED BULLS!!

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  25. This one brought back bad memories of 2009. Red card(s), own goals, confusion in the back. Ugh. I hope RBNY have enough players for Wednesday night. Bring in the Baby Bulls!

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