Top Stories

Shaky refs cost TFC and Columbus in Champions League losses

6a00e54ef2975b88330133f2996d6c970b

Major League Soccer teams have had a history of struggling to gain road points in the CONCACAF Champions League and nothing changed on Tuesday night as the Columbus Crew and Toronto FC both lost group matches.

The Crew fell in heartbreaking fashion, giving up a stoppage-time game winner in a 1-0 loss to Santos Laguna. In Panama, TFC could not overcome the surrendering of an early goal or a questionable Nick LaBrocca red card in a 1-0 loss to Arabe Unido.

The Columbus loss came in controversial fashion, as an apparent goal from Andy Iro was waved off because Emilio Renteria, who assisted on the would-be goal, came onto the field with a plain un-numbered jersey (after being told it was okay by match officials).

The Toronto loss wasn't much easier to watch, with a reserve-laden TFC squad struggling to cope with a lack of offense and a terrible referee (who issued two red cards).

MLS clubs will return to Champions League action tonight, with Real Salt Lake seeking to be the first MLS team to win a Champions League match in Mexico when it takes on Cruz Azul. The Seattle Sounders will look to score their first win of the group stage when they play host to Monterrey.

Here are highlights from both matches:

ARABE UNIDO 1, TORONTO FC 0

SANTOS LAGUNA 1, COLUMBUS CREW 0

What did you think of last night's matches? Think the Crew deserved a point? Amazed at the incompetent officiating in CONCACAF? Is Arabe Unido your new most-hated team?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I’m pretty sure I speak for everyone when I say we know your opinion. You are in the 1% that saw nothing wrong with the officiating, and I will go out on a limb and guess that you’ve never seen a call against an American side or club that you did not like. Having made your feelings clear, kindly STFU.

    Reply
  2. (SBI) Joamiq, we can’t put out people’s personal emails on here for people to blast, even if it’s the one listed on the CONCACAF site. Can’t set that precedent. If it were an @concacaf.org address that would be different.

    Reply
  3. I concur the game could have been handled better by the ref. It does seem like there is a lot of chaos in this tournament that fans could do without. It is not good but the chaos does keep it interesting in odd sort of way.

    Reply
  4. “The invalid assumption that correlation implies cause is probably among the two or three most serious and common errors of human reasoning”

    Stephen Jay Gould

    Reply
  5. Heading off to buy a pair of tickets to the Sounders game in a few minutes, flask of US-made Jack Daniels in my back pocket. Attendance is rumored to be in the mid 20s!

    Here’s hoping for better refs and MLS success across the board tonight.

    Reply
  6. Anyways it was a f-up from the refs… Like I said this was one of many mistakes by the ref crew, along with the no calls on the pk’s

    Reply
  7. Sorry posting on iPhone…. I was making the point that your article show the forth officle gave the ok, and according to Concacaf’s the ref waved him on

    Reply
  8. Your argument was that he just came on…. In fact he was waved on, both articles, and at that point it is the forth officials job to inspect new gear ( according to MLS article you posted he gave the ok)… it is on him, no it’s ands or buts. But thanks for the sarcasm.

    Reply
  9. Yes now post the fix to why he got the yellow two min. later…. For his efforts to return to play without a number on his shirt….

    Reply
  10. Yes an article posted and sanctioned by Concacaf after the play by play you posted during the match….

    (SBI-Rob, you’re giving CONCACAF way too much credit. It has ZERO to do with “sanctioning” the stories posted on CONCACAF.com and I’d say without a shadow of a doubt that the person who wrote that story wasn’t at the game, but watched on TV.)

    Reply
  11. Dude as you can see nothing on a message board bothers me, anyways in both articles by MLS (you posted) and the Concacaf (I posted) clearly state he was waved on by refs. So I don’t under stand your point.

    Reply
  12. Really?

    According to CONCACAF? You mean the writer that wrote an article on CONCACAF’s website without looking at the live commentary or the official referee post-match report.

    Are you saying the MLS got a false official referee post-match report?

    Reply
  13. Rob, its all good I forgive you. It is hard to not make assumptions based on past experiences. It is fairly common flaw in thinking that inflicts all of us on occasion. You appeared to assume he got permission to reenter the field because he was supposed to, but the assumption that he did because he is supposed to is flawed. In the video you can also see the Arabe Unido reacting to something prior to the goal being scored. I concur it was a bit of an odd situation. I only called you an “idiot” after you felt the need to call me “thick”.

    Reply
  14. That was my point… He was told to come on and got a yellow for not having anything on his shirt….. That’s what I said from the beginning…. The officials waved him on, according to concacaf…. Thank you for proving my point.

    Reply
  15. From http://www.concacaf.com/page/CL/NewsDetail/0,,12813~2133644,00.html

    “Renteria was injured by a flying backward elbow by Jaime Toledo in the 20th minute, opening a cut over his right eye and forcing him to receive treatment to close the wound at the Crew bench. He changed his shirt, presumably due to blood on his shirt.

    He appeared to be waved onto the field by Panamanian referee Luis Rodriguez and took a pass on a free kick down the right. He volleyed a cross to the edge of the six-yard box, where Andy Iro converted with a header. But after a conference with Mexican fourth official Ricardo Arellano, Rodriguez disallowed the goal and cautioned Renteria, forcing him to don a shirt with a number.”

    I will take CONCACAF’s word on this over MLS’s word

    Reply
  16. Post the entire part of the article as it clearly states the fourth official incorrectly told him to enter the match and on concacafs website they said last night it was due to no number on the back of the shirt.

    Reply
  17. Dear CC, in the future you can use athletic tape or colored masking tape to make a number for emergency replacement uniforms – we do it here in the youth leagues when we have guest players / lost uniforms etc. Just in case it happens again…

    Reply
  18. “According to the official referee post-match report, RenterĂ­a entered the field without permission and was eventually booked for that infraction. Law No. 3 from the Laws of the Game (page 60) says that when a player comes onto the field without permission, the game is stopped and the opposing team receives an indirect kick.”

    Reply
  19. “According to the official referee post-match report, RenterĂ­a entered the field without permission and was eventually booked for that infraction. Law No. 3 from the Laws of the Game (page 60) says that when a player comes onto the field without permission, the game is stopped and the opposing team receives an indirect kick.”

    Reply
  20. Time-wasting would be a useless tactic if referees actually added on the requisite stoppage time. And play-acting would take a huge hit in FIFA had a brain and allowed retroactive punishment. But then again, they don’t have a brain

    Reply
  21. Hey Charles, drop the topic.

    11-0, outclassed.

    Are you trying to say the players were not outclased and were competitive? I’m not a Seattle fan so I don’t care about those other guys but I do remember the game and Hahnemann was in goal and Hattrup was the only memorable one out there. Sorry I’m not some old fart who remembers the (NASL) Sounders from their days.

    Reply
  22. I don’t think it’s a conspiracy, but Caribbean and Mexican refs definitely are biased against MLS teams and the US national team. Just watch an FMF game and then a game that a Mexican ref works for a CONCACAF competition for an example. They will call things against American teams that they never call in FMF play. I’m willing to bet that the same goes for Caribbean refs. A show of hands for the people here who actually believe that the ref in the Santos-Columbus game would have been just as quick to card Arabe Unido players for time-wasting against RSL like he did to Columbus. So of those cards where ridiculously quick.

    I’m not mad about it, but I will certainly never pay attention to the CCL. CONCACAF could easily fix this but they won’t, so they won’t get my money. It’s as easy as that. When CONCACAF decides to take their own competitions seriously then so will I.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Joamiq Cancel reply