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Toronto FC plays with 10 for a half, hangs on for 1-1 draw with Crew

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By JOSE M. ROMERO

Tony Tchani's first goal for his new team also got him sent off with a second yellow. His dismissal helped the Columbus Crew take a point on the road in Saturday's 1-1 draw with Tchani's side, Toronto FC.

The second-year midfielder guided in a long ball from teammate Julian de Guzman in the 41st minute. His decision to celebrate by jumping over the field barrier and into the crowd at BMO Field got him a second yellow, and then a red, from referee David Gantar.

The Crew was able to take advantage of the missing player on the field for TFC, as Emilio Renteria headed in a cross from midfielder Dilly Duka in the 49th minute. 

Columbus (2-1-3), a surprise thus far in MLS play, still hasn't lost a league match since its MLS opener on March 19 and remained unbeaten in 12 all-time meetings with Toronto FC.

TFC earned its fourth draw in the past five MLS matches and sits at 1-2-4, having begun a stretch of seven games over the next 22 days that includes two Nutrilite Canadian Championship matches against FC Edmonton. 

Tchani's goal and subsequent ejection was the turning point of the match. The former New York Red Bulls draft pick was booked for dissent of a foul call against a teammate earlier in the first half. 

There was precedent for a yellow card being shown for unsporting behavior. It happened in MLS earlier this season when Vancouver's Eric Hassli was booked for taking off his jersey after scoring a goal at home against the New England Revolution. Hassli, who'd picked up a yellow card earlier, was sent off. 

As for Saturday, Toronto FC goalkeeper Stefan Frei came up big several times, as did his counterpart William Hesmer for the Crew. Hesmer stopped two shots in the 19th and 26th minutes from Alan Gordon and Javier Martina, both who played well before being subbed out.

The Crew's Robbie Rogers had a chance in front after TFC defender Dicoy Williams — making his first start of the season — lost the ball to Renteria, who fed Rogers for a shot that went wide of Frei in the 35th minute.

After Renteria's goal, the Crew attacked with even more regularity but missed shots or had them stopped by Frei, who saw 16 Crew shots compared to seven for the home team. The substitution of 19-year-old Joao Plata in the 77th minute gave a spark to TFC, with Plata making two strong and fast runs though neither led to goals. 

In the 90th minute, defender Chad Marshall headed a ball right to Frei, and that was the last time the Crew threatened before the final whistle.
 

Comments

  1. The law is clear that a player “must be cautioned” in that situation. I somewhat understand the rule because it would be a major liability if a fan was injured. I’ve also seen fans rip off a player’s shirt or otherwise act like morons. We do need more consistency, but Tchani was at fault here.

    I have to say the officiating in general is much below the international standard. Refs let too much go and then resort to handing out red cards when they lose control of the match. A couple years ago, I had the MLS package and decided to stop watching because every match I saw ended with a ridiculous PK in the last 10 minutes of a match. I felt like I had wasted 2 hours. I can only imagine the frustration of the players.

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  2. Seven, before you post anything on the laws of the game, you need also to review the Interpretations and Guidelines for referees that follow the laws. For goal scoring celebrations, this states:
    A player must be cautioned if:
    – in the opinion of the referee, he makes gestures which are provocative,
    derisory or infl ammatory
    – he climbs on to a perimeter fence to celebrate a goal being scored
    – he removes his shirt or covers his head with his shirt
    – he covers his head or face with a mask or other similar item

    People may not like the call, or the fact it is not always called, however you cannot fault the ref for making that call.

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  3. +1, need to be more uniform.

    This ref was not nearly as bad as that ref who was in charge of the revs – SKC game. That guy is uniformly bad in every game.

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  4. It’s a horrible judgement call, when already this year we have seen players jumping to celebrate with fans (leaving the field of play) with no card. Remember when Davis scored his first goal, I don’t recall seeing a card after he went to celebrate with fans…. Just saying

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  5. there are 7 offenses that a referee can show a caution for. Which of these mentions a perimeter fence?

    – unsporting behaviour
    – dissent by word or action
    – persistent infringement of the Laws of the Game
    – delaying the restart of play
    – failure to respect the required distance when play is restarted with
    a corner kick, free kick or throw-in
    – entering or re-entering the field of play without the referee’s
    permission
    – deliberately leaving the field of play without the referee’s
    permission

    The celebration did not delay the start of play more than any other celebration. If the caution was for leaving the field of play than yellow cards should be given for every celebration that goes over the goal line.

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  6. Any word on how serious the David Ferreira ankle injury is? They said he was being taken to the hospital for tests. It doesn’t sound good… MLS could have lost two stars for an extended period of time this weekend.

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  7. But the ref then has the ability to add two minutes on to stoppage time for stuff like that. In my opinion the refs have been incredibly quick to pull out cards in all situations this season while there also seems to be no consistency in the calls.

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  8. Imagine your team is deciding a championship, the game is zero to zero and the opponent makes a goal after 87 minutes. Then the player who scored the goal, leave the field and go into the crowd and is celebrated for two minutes. You will not be happy with that.

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  9. ^ We’ve seen the same thing done multiple times in the past few weeks in MLS.

    If they are going to call it, every time or never… as usual the inconsistency in the officiating kills it.

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  10. uhm. hassli’s 2nd yellow is not comparable precedent. removal of shirts always gets a yellow .. celebrating with fans not so much

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  11. Wow they better drop that card or start carding every player who leaves the field to celebrate…. Horrible call on the card.

    Reply

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