Photo by Greg Bartram/USA Today Sports
By FRANCO PANIZO
Rafael Ramos lost his mind, and so too did MLS officials.
It was wild weekend in MLS, as a rain delay of almost three-and-half-hours inexplicably took place in Dallas while one of the league’s more promising youngsters was sent off after a major meltdown in Columbus. There were also continued troubles for New York City FC and Toronto FC, leaving two of the more expensive clubs in the league with big question marks.
Week 7 was not all about the negative, however. Several U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team players saw the field to help their cases for World Cup inclusion, and the Portland Timbers, Vancouver Whitecaps and FC Dallas each got back on track with wins.
Here is what SBI is thinking about after Week 7:
RAMOS DESERVES LENGTHY SUSPENSION
Orlando City took a step back this Saturday, failing to put up much of a challenge in a 3-0 loss to the Columbus Crew at Mapfre Stadium. There was plenty of blame to go around, but right back Rafael Ramos deserves most of it and a lengthy suspension.
Ramos went mad in the 34th minute of the defeat, and got himself promptly sent off. Upset over what he deemed was uncalled foul and likely his poor giveaway that led to the Crew’s opener two minutes prior, the 20-year-old Ramos lost the plot and his cool and committed a criminal retaliation tackle high on Waylon Francis.
That Francis did not suffer a severe injury is a minor blessing. Regardless, Ramos should be banned for a good while – five games seems appropriate – by the MLS Disciplinary Committee. Yes, sometimes the heat of the moment can get to you, but it’s inexcusable for Ramos to have that type of meltdown after a sequence of events that started with his own mistake.
Young players make mistakes. Young players learn from their mistakes. Hopefully Ramos learns from his.
DALLAS RAIN DELAY BEYOND ABSURD
It is understandable that officials wanted the FC Dallas-Toronto FC match played out, but it’s ridiculous that the game wasn’t called after the numerous delays.
It took three hours and 22 minutes for the game at Toyota Stadium to resume this past Saturday, and a match that began at 7:30 pm local time did not end until well past midnight. The worst part was that there was confusion as to what would require the game to be permanently postponed, with fans in the stadium – who deserve kudos for sticking around – the teams, media members, and observers across the nation inexplicably stuck in a long waiting game that was as frustrating as it was perplexing.
It was just an overall absurd night in Dallas, one that further hurt MLS’s credibility.
PERFECTIONIST MENTALITY PROMISING FOR RED BULLS
To many observers’ surprise, the New York Red Bulls remain the only unbeaten team in MLS. The Red Bulls knocked off the San Jose Earthquakes, 2-0, on Friday in a match that improved them to 3-0-2 and had plenty of positives to draw from.
New York, however, was not anywhere close to pleased with their performance. The postgame talk from the team centered around how much better it can and needs to be, and the vibe in the locker room interestingly felt more like that of the team on a losing end of a 2-0 affair.
Some might label that perfectionist attitude disingenuous, but it is more promising than anything that the team as a whole was not satisfied with the showing. The club is leaving no room for complacency, hungry to not just beat teams but to do so soundly.
If you feel like you’ve heard this before, it’s because former captain Thierry Henry regularly used to voice his displeasure with the performances in wins while others opted to focus on positives. That all seemed to create for a bit of tension in the locker room, something that does not exist these days on a Red Bulls team that is more unified than ever before.
U.S. U-20 PLAYERS IMPRESSED
U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team head coach Tab Ramos was surely a happy man this past weekend.
A handful of his MLS-based players saw the field, and several of them did well. LA Galaxy attacker Bradford Jamieson IV earned solid reviews for his first start, New York Red Bulls centerback Matt Miazga put forth a performance that head coach Jesse Marsch called the youngster’s best of the season and midfielder Tommy Thompson came off the bench and provided a spark for the San Jose Earthquakes.
Then, there was also Jordan Allen continuing to see good minutes for Real Salt Lake and Zach Pfeffer of the Philadelphia Union getting another long look. Throw in Kellyn Acosta and Cristian Roldan’s late insertions for FC Dallas and the Seattle Sounders, respectively, and it was a good overall showing for the batch of U.S. youngsters.
With the U-20 World Cup fast approaching, Ramos will be pleased to see his domestic-based players breaking into their club’s first teams. It will make for tougher selections when he has to name his New Zealand-bound roster next month, but that’s a good problem to have.
I still have no problem with TFC signing these 3 very expensive, very talented players. They’ll figure it out and definitely make the playoffs this season. They’ve been screwed by some absurd calls, an opening all road game schedule, some key injuries. They’ll be just fine, especially at home when they start getting 30k per game next month.
This is really normal Texas weather in the spring. I doubt the Rangers would have handled it much differently, although they have the luxury of many more chances to make games up. I’m a season tix holder and I live well west of Frisco, so I saw these cells coming and stayed home, reluctantly.
So which would hurt the credibility of MLS more- replaying a game where the home team is up 3-0 or gutting it out and respecting the (almost) completed first half. I don’t recall too many USMNT fans complaining about the snowmaggedon game in Colorado not being cancelled….
“It was just an overall absurd night in Dallas, one that further hurt MLS’s credibility.”
Anyone have ideas on how it could have been better handled? Here are the facts:
1. The possibility of storms were in the forecast all day
2. By kickoff (7:40 local), the storms had formed some distance away. It was not clear if they would hold together, break apart, or get worse (Spring in Texas, this is normal).
3. Around the 40th minute, people started leaving, based on radar on their phones
4. Officials stopped play at 43′ (around 8:30pm)
5. Storms arrived within 5-10 mins of stoppage, with massive amounts of rain and wind gusts.
6. Game restarted at 11:40 pm, when it was clear
What would have been the better route, given the facts? What is the EPL protocol or Bundesliga? What about NFL or MLB? Does the MLS not have a rule for this situation?
Yeah, I have no idea how stopping a match due to a dangerous, nearby electrical storm “hurts’s MLS’s credibility.” What would have hurt the league’s credibility is a player (or multiple players) laid out on the pitch, electrocuted to death.
It was “youth team night”. There were thousands of kids in the stands, more than your normal MLS family Saturday night.
Young Jamieson for the Galaxy had some good looking stretches. He seemed to really pick it up after Zardes came on. Possible US striker partnership of the future?
BJIV is a very exciting young man. I think he earned himself another look as a starter, especially while Keane is injured.
Im glad the Dallas game finished. I know they got back 2 goals but 3-0 at half, if they made it a replay i would be really really angry
I am not a Red Bulls fan but they dominated that game start to finish – in fact it was embarrassing for San Jose. The only thing they should be upset about is not converting their numerous chances. Multiple players in their post game comments stated they weren’t good enough, clearly they are all reading from the same talking points and this is Marsch’s way of playing down expectations and motivating the players.
NY Red Bulls are an organization that may have established the stability they need. If they can manage to stick to the overall plan, Red Bull fans may actually have a team worth rooting for. Amazing how it takes someone who understands both the system and the culture in North America to be consistently successful in MLS.
The only thing absurd is how horribly Toronto FC is playing. The league should penalize the organization for buying such expensive talent and still putting out such sub par performances. (j/k) This is bad publicity for the league since Giovinco is the only player really showing up to play, while some of his teammates just look like amateurs. It just reinforces preexistent stereotypes from observers of MLS.
You say TFC’s lack of success “reinforces stereotypes,” but the teams that consistently perform well in MLS are coached by guys familiar with the league – often Americans. The Galaxy and Sounders have certainly not shied away from spending big money, yet they’ve also found plenty of success. What do they have in common? They’re American coaches who’ve been around a long time, they emphasize youth development, and they don’t put all their eggs in one basket vis-a-vis DP signings. I feel like, top to bottom, TFC has a very unbalanced roster compared to LA, Seattle, and many other teams in the league.
Ian, you and I actually agree on this. The teams who seem to enjoy success are the ones who do take a balanced approach to squad construction. Especially in a league like MLS which is defined by parity. Competition is fierce but the overall level of competition is still not high enough to where the likes of Giovinco or any other top international player in his prime would want to come in and ply his trade.
Stereotypes are obviously not true but these are stereotypes created by those who just simply refuse to support MLS or US soccer because it is nothing in comparison with the top tier leagues in the world.
Right now you have a Toronto FC team that has 2 of the main contributors to the USMNT playing badly and then a Giovinco who is pretty much playing at a totally different level/stratosphere and then 8 other amateurs who are getting steamrolled by opposing teams. Not a good image.
Not quite, Sigi Schmid was born in Tuebingin, Germany.
Wouldn’t put too much emotional energy into worrying about stereotypes. It seems that MLS fans can be just as Europhobic as they are Eurocentric. Good soccer teams have stability. The difference between LA/Seattle and TFC can be measured by stability top to bottom. The most stable franchise in the league, LA, is also the most successful. Key players stay, coaching turnover is minimal, facility, medical, training, nutrition, etc are top notch, and the development program has a clear cut path to the first team.
When TFC achieves stability they will also begin to experience success. Rather than spend money on players, they need to spend money on the infrastructure that gives them the edge in a league where championships cannot be bought through player salaries.