Controversy surrounds RSL equalizer

Sources have just told me that there are some rather suspect circumstances surrounding Real Salt Lake's equalizing goal against the Red Bulls tonight.

Apparently RSL midfielder Carey Talley had been on the sidelines changing his bloodied jersey and was waiting to be waived into the game by the match official, Ricardo Salazar, but fourth official Brian Hall told Talley to get back on the field before Salazar ever acknowledged Talley. Talley proceeds to intercept a pass by Clint Mathis intended for Hunter Freeman and starts the play that gets the ball to Chris Brown, who scores a beautiful goal.

As far as I know a player must be acknowledged by the game referee in order to come back into play. If anyone knows different please let me know. Bruce Arena must be loving that one, especially since Hall is supposed to be one of the best officials in US Soccer.

As for the RSL penalty, it was apparently a legit call.

Comments

[Frank the Frowner]

That PK was far from legit. That should never be called, only time I've seen it called was tonight and Gooch vs Ghana.

[DCU]

You're in the right of it, Ives. As far as FIFA is concerned, the ref has to acknowledge the player's entry or reentry onto the pitch. This is typically during a stoppage, but can be performed during the run of play. I'm thinking the play will be reviewed and the referring team will catch some considerable heat.

[kpugs]

Seems like everyone who saw the penalty thinks it was a joke...those radio announcers are (jerks).

[kpugs]

I don't and won't know about the PK call until I see it. I've heard both sides so far.

As for the player coming back on the field, the ref MUST acknowledge, law of the game. That's a bunch of crap if he wasn't told to come back on by the ref.

A perfect example of this is when refs "punish" players for diving and what not. Sometimes refs will intentionally keep players standing at midfield with the fourth official for a little bit of extra time, to show them he is boss. Happens all over the planet. If the player could run on with the fourth official's permission this circumstance would never exist.

[ag nigrin]

Let's face it though the Bulls collapsed late game a la Metro... How can you squander a two goal lead in the last 4 minutes? We should have scored more goals when RSL was down and finished them off in the first half... We let them hand around way too much. After Mathis's 2nd goal, I thought we had righted the ship but perhaps the high altitude/rain/cold got to the Bulls... We still have not won at RSL in 2+ years!

[nathan3e]

Pardon me for being observant, but "collapsed" and "squander" are words that should be applied when a team gives up legitimate goals. The penalty was preposterous. For the tying goal, Talley had no right to be on the field. It could just as well have been Kreis that intercepted the pass. As irritating as it was to watch such refereeing buffoonery live, at least the Red Bulls got jobbed early in the year and not in some sort of deciding match.

[Ed]

Last time I checked the Red Bulls also had several opportunities to go up by 3, 4 or even 5 goals, but they didn't. You can blame the refs all you want, but at the end of the day it's up to the team on the field to produce and not allow bad calls to interfere in the outcome.

[ag nigrin]

Exactly Ed! The Bulls apparently missed quite a few easy chances and they should have put RSL away. Period. I am a die hard Red Bulls fans and bad breaks like bad ref calls, etc. unfortunately happen and you use them to play better not worse.

[Tonerl]

It's both. Bad reffing and really horrific defending. You can't deny that either effected the outcome.

On the pen: there was contact, but it was not a foul. Talley either was reacting to the incidental contact (his head hitting Parke's when he tried to play the ball) or he was play-acting. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say he was legitimitely phased by the head-to-head contact, but that does not mean there is a foul. Both players were fairly going for the ball and neither did anything that should be called.

[Allen]

Ed, that's almost true. I agree the ref's get too much blame. But this is a very important rule in this case since if Talley's off the field of play, who on NYRB is marking him? What are you going to do, have a player stand next to the RSL bench, just on the field of play, just in case Talley runs onto the pitch? That's the reason the rule is there; it would give the player and team an unfair advantage if they could just come on willy nilly. But I agree with you overall. In the grand scheme of things too often people blame the ref instead of all the things their team failed to do.

[Ronen]

pk will always be questionable. what was worse is letting the 3rd goal in so quickly after. brian hall didn't score it. neither did the ref. we should've gotten the ball and held on to it to kill the game.

hopefully we learn from the game. we're a good team now, situations like this make us better. this is MLS and you have to expect that the refs will cost you a few points here and there. you still have to score on the easy chances to win.

[RaisinBread]

So if that penalty was preposterous, RSL should have gotten one anyway - how about that handball by the keep after a backpass?

Either way, RSL should have had a PK.

That said, the officiating, was (as always) horrific.

[Tonerl]

GK handling a footed back-pass is an indirect free kick. Not a pen.

[papa bear]

You have to be joking yes? A PK is debatable about 90% of the time so saying this one is debatable is ludicrous.
Where do these Talley rumors come from?
NY fans: you got whooped on the final couple of minutes. Your team didn't get the job done, it's not a conspiracy against you. You were outplayed the final 5 minutes. RSL had the hunger and desire to get into situations that were dangerous to RBNY, it happens.

[areyouidiots?]

the pk was about as legit as they come. Talley was elbowed in the face NOTICE the "changing his bloody jersey on the sidelines deal" you idiots. Rsl deseved another 2 pks during the game... i don't know what game you watched but it seemd to me as the red bulls had payed off the refs, so dont you go on about how they "handed us the game"- wake up

[BilFish]

Ives... as a credible (and enjoyable) columnist and blogger, I hope for a bit better than reporting of vague rumors of PK and referee questions, especially juxtaposed with your comment regarding not having seen the game.

I didn't see it either, so I'll just complain about the referee'ing crap I did see: DCs PK, Shalrie Joseph's red card, Jimmy Conrad's jawbreaker by Virtuoso, Roberto Brown's jawbreaker by Robinson, etc....

Cheers,

BilFish