Photo by Bill Barrett/ISIphotos.com
Thursday night's debut of Livestrong Sporting Park had almost everything.
Between Sporting Kansas City finally having a home game in its sparkling new stadium, a keeper sent off for deliberately handling the ball outside his own area, nine minutes of second-half stoppage time — not to mention a pitch invader dressed as a cow — the 0-0 draw with the Chicago Fire wasn't a garden-variety scoreless draw.
The one thing the opener lacked was goals. Sporting Kansas City thought it would have a golden opportunity for a goal when Chicago's Bratislav Ristic went into a challenge on Omar Bravo from behind inside Chicago's penalty area in the 85th minute.
Bravo got undercut and fell to the ground where he appeared to have some serious lower-back pain, but referee Michael Kennedy ruled that Ristic's tackle was clean and did not warrant a penalty call.
What do you think? Watch video of the challenge after the jump:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7LjhCC6src]
Do you think Kennedy should have given a PK? Cast your vote here:
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What do you think – PK or no PK? Did Kennedy make a major blunder, or did he get it right?
Share your thoughts below.
Clear penalty. Extremely clear.
To those of you saying he got ball first: The rules do not care if you get ball first if it’s reckless. He ‘may’ have gotten ball first, but only because Bravo had to avoid his reckless tackle to begin with and worry about his safety. You can come in wrecklessly, I can avoid you, and you can get ball because of that. According to the rules, however, it should be a penalty.
Had he not avoided the tackle, we could be talking about another x game ban for yet another defender who comes in wrecklessly.
Look at the second replay. Ristic slides in, gets his feet between bravo and the ball, and then nicks the ball away. Bravos momentum then takes him over ristics body. Is it a stupid challenge? Yes. But reckless? Not in the least. Ristic makes a nice one footed, studs down challenge and bravo trips over him. Good no call.
It should have been a PK, but it shouldn’t have been this close. SKC deserved the non-call. It looked like they had never played together. Vermes must go!
he CLEARLY got the ball first…HOWEVER that does not give him carte blanche to completely wipe bravo out in the follow through of his motion that got the ball first…that shouldve been called a penalty
This is why the penalty area should be a “penalty optional” area, not a “penalty mandatory” area. It makes no sense to tie the hands of the referee. If he felt it warranted a free kick from that spot (which would have been plenty dangerous), why not let him call a free kick?
Soccer’s penalty rules are incredibly antiquated. Basic rule of life: when the punishment doesn’t fit the crime, fair judging becomes impossible.
I don’t have a dog in this fight–I’m not a fan of KC or Chicago. Nor do I hate Bravo…wasn’t he one of the few Mexican NT players (along with Blanco) who was willing to shake hands after games or trade shirts? That said…
1. Maybe Ristic gets some of the ball before he gets Bravo…maybe. But the path of the ball doesn’t change at all. And Kennedy’s position–while he is very close to the play–means that Ristic shields him from the ball/foot/contact view so this is a call that really has to happen from the AR on the near sideline. Again, I won’t rule out Ristic touching the ball first but from the video review, you can’t tell for sure and the ball doesn’t act as if it was touched.
2. I think the point a couple of posters make about “okay, maybe he got ball, so now it’s a 50-50 ball in the area…and then than takes down an attacker who can play that ball”…that should be a foul (and thus PK). What’s the difference between Ristic toe poking it away and then grabbing Bravo’s jersey and bringing him to the ground so he can’t get the ball vs. the play we saw? I don’t think anyone would have a problem with a card and PK on the first example. The second isn’t much different.
3. Bravo makes this trickier to call by putting the ball on the foot closest to the defender. If it had been on his left foot it would have been a more obviously call.
And it is debatable whether he even got a piece of the ball (which does not matter) and Bravo still would have a chance at getting to the ball had he not been wiped out. Most times a player (the idiot Chicago defender) takes someone out and comes up waving their finger they know they made a mistake and are praying to the ref to not pull some time of card and give a PK
Someone show me where “getting the ball” is in the rule book. So if you touch the ball first you can break his leg. And if he jumps to save his leg and lands on his back, all is good? Where do you people come from? PK, plain and simple. Doesn’t matter where on the field it is. Doesn’t matter time left in the game. Doesn’t matter than neither team really deserved to win up to that point. And no, don’t say how gutsy the ref was to not make the call – stupid maybe, not gutsy. And handball outside the box a PK – good one – LOL
No
Reckless challenge. Penalty. Card. End of story.
It was a foul and deserved a card, possibly even a red card.
Hey IVES why dont you take the time to find the other angle on this that they show about 3 minutes later where you can see the defender scooping the ball away from Bravo before there is any contact? It was the right call end of story.
Both ESPN commentators got it wrong. It should have been a penalty. The poll is slanted by language, tackle does not need to be ‘reckless’ just bad will due.
you are funny. it seems in your world any tackle that involves the attacker falling despite getting the ball or not is a foul.
nonetheless, it was one tackle and you are commenting on a blog…dont let it get under your skin!
seriously, you could be debating with 10 year olds, mls players, or newbies to the game.
what? it looks more like a foul in real time, looks way worse when you dont have replay. Anyone defending Kennedy hasnt been watching the MLS long, he is horrible game in and game out.
I’m a neutral, and that was a clear penalty call. You can slow down the video if you need indisputable evidence around :26 above and watch Ristic’s tackle bounce off of Bravo’s ankle bone into the ball. More than that though, he was tackled from behind in the box. Penalty.
awesome job having a long winded post and not knowing how the actual laws of the game.
I normally don’t argee with MLS ref’s but this was s good call. It was from the side he got ball first and the player was not not in full sprinting or even running.
Pretty sure Christopher is actually Kennedy.. Nice cover.. Horrid no call.
I love how many people rip on the MLS ref-ing,
but in a replay where you can pause it, go as slow as you want, replay it as many times as you want ?
75-25 split.
way to show you know nothing about the game, please comment more o’dumb one
i appriciate the distiction between getting the ball and reckless. reckless trumps the ball everytime. though, just because a player was up ended does not make it reckless.
reckless plays are when a player was not in control when entering a tackle ala the zakuani tackle. the tackler was clealy not in control and certain was not going for the ball.
in this play the defender actually got his foot inbetween the ball and the foot of the attacker, causing the attacker to kick the defenders foot. he then “took out” the attacker with his upper thigh.
could he have been hurt? sure. but all tackles present some risk. that is why soccer is a contact sport.
getting the ball first is important because the attacker is playing the ball. if the ball is out he knows a tackle is coming. it is sort of a “heads up” for the tackle. if you get legs first it could be from anywhere and very dangerous.
sorry for the length.
If SKC makes that tackle its a PK. Plain and simple, calls always go the way of certain teams in the MLS. Look how many Fire have been on the benefiting side of thus far this season
Kennedy gave a yellow to Harrington for a similar challenge earlier in the game, and Harrington got a lot more ball and a lot less player. Per FIFA laws of the game it was a PK. But Kennedy is the worse ref in the MLS, and has proven so over time, so its what you expect.
MLS needs to take control of this kind of crap. This is why we have so many 0-0 draws. Regardless of whether or not his foot hit the ball first, the tackle was reckless and was going to take out KC’s best attacking player.
Fifa’s guide for referees says,
“Any player who lunges at an opponent in challenging for the ball from the
front, from the side or from behind using one or both legs, with excessive force
and endangering the safety of an opponent is guilty of serious foul play.”
See the full guide here: http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/worldfootball/clubfootball/01/37/04/28/law12.pdf
Not only should this have been a penalty, but likely should have been a red card. The ESPN announcers did get one thing right, if Bravo had not jumped up to avoid the full force of this, he likely would have ended up with a broken leg.
If MLS wants to improve the quality of play and the appeal of this game to mainstream america, we need to go overboard to tip the scales back the other way and protect the skilled players these teams pay millions (or hundreds of thousands) to bring in.
Look again, I had to. He does clearly re-direct the ball in the tackle. Not to a great extent, but he does re-direct it to his teammate. And also completely wipe out the player. Pretty dangerous, I would have believed a call either way. Option 3 as above.
every official has a different style in every league in the world. no two are the same. what is most important is that all refs protect players and are consistent in each specific game from start to finish. that is why all teams “test” the official in the first few minutes of the game.
It was a PK. Kennedy didn’t seem to want to call any fouls last night, though.
This, and only this.
Everything else is irrelevant.
ahahaha partly???
Good God…
I’ll light a candle for the official during Sunday Services.
Sticky for the entire board:
Ristic never touched the ball, and there is no rule that negates a foul because of contact with the ball.
Reckless fouls do not require contact with either the ball or man. Their recklessness is inherent and not based on their outcome.
Yeah, I am always hearing MLS fans talk about how great the EPL physicality is and how it takes a tough player to make it there.
I’m always left thinking, “have you watched your own league? The recklessness and danger is maybe twice that of the EPL.”
It appears so by reading some comments here as long as you don’t break an ankle or a leg in the process.
It’s not a rule. People just regurgitate crap the commentators tell them.
So you’re saying that as long as you “get the ball first” a defender has carte blanche to inflict any pain on the opposing player?
you cant come through someone to get ball?!?!
One of the most obvious PK:s ever. Only way he might be able get away with that hard challenge is if he hits the ball clean before the attacker’s legs are even close so the ball changes direction and “follows the tackle” straight down to the endline. Now the ball ended up in the attacker’s path instead. Good positioning by the attacker.
That’s just not the case though lol
He never touches the ball. In fact pause the video at 27 seconds and you can see the defender’s foot going directly into the ankle/foot of Bravo with no contact of the ball.
Also, there is no such thing as “got the ball first.” It’s not a law of the game. Reckless challenges are fouls regardless of contact with the ball or man. So, the ref was 100% wrong in not giving the penalty.
Ristic gets WAYYY more of the player than the ball. The ball barely changes trajectory and he sends Bravo legs flying from under him. Clear PK. To get the ball seems like the most idiotic rule to me. So, if I break a person’s legs with my follow through but I get the ball it’s not a foul?
What you said!
I don’t know about Harkesy and Ian. Maybe they just don’t want to bad mouth the officiating.
I saw a couple of challenegs last night that went unpunished that would have been yellows even in EPL.
I’m a still amzed that people say he go the ball first and took Bravo out as a result, as if that’s allowed in the game.
doesn’t matter if his momentum did it. Also doesn’t matter that he “attempted” to play the ball.
I know it’s an unpopular opinion but after watching this several times he does get the ball. Furthermore, he gets the ball FIRST and the attacker’s forward moment takes him over the tackler’s trailing leg. The defender was obviously playing the ball and not the attacker. Yes, it was ugly. Yes, the ref could have called a PK and gotten away with it but the ref was technically correct in not giving the PK. I will also conceded that it was a risky challenge that most defenders would have thought better of making.
Someday, people will stop thinking/saying that if the tackler “got ball,” it’s therefore OK to do whatever else to the man. Someday
Oh, who am I kidding — if even Harkes thinks “got ball” excuses anything else, fans are going to regurgitate that as well.
I hate you. Are you just trolling? Nothing you said is correct and it really bothers me.
Yeah, there’s something wrong with this league and it gets harder and harder to watch. I really want to love the league, I do. But this is like forcing yourself to stay in a bad relationship because you believe in the person making changes.
Blows me away that ANYONE who claims to be a football fan would even try to make an argument for why that isn’t a penalty.
Pause the video at 0:27 and you clearly see that Ristic makes no contact with the ball at all. Horrible, reckless challenge and an even worse no-call.
This was a nationally televised stadium opening, and the national audience just got a great view of how big a joke MLS play and MLS/US Soccer officiating is.
Why on Earth would a handball outside the box be deserving of a PK?