Surprising score, yes? Not as close as some of the other 1-0 games - I thought United was crisper than recently, perhaps a result of Nowak swapping the line-up for the first time in four, five games, starting Olsen instead of Gomez and Eskandarian instead of McTavish.
Eskandarian. A month or so ago the Post had an article on Esky, saying in part that his temper is both a strength and an exploitable weakness. I don't know exactly how much latitude a referee has to interpret intent on fouls, and it could certainly be argued that Esky didn't land his elbow into the kidney of Columbus' Gonzalez and actually rupture said kidney, and it could certainly be argued that Gonzalez' display of utter physical agony was, say, dramatic, but when I saw it I thought red, if for nothing else than for being a punkass stupid thing to do. Your team is tired, you're back from injury, you've scored a brilliant free kick, you're up 0-1 on the road in the last third of the game, and you recklessly, petulantly, impulsively, idiotically throw that elbow right in front of the ref?
posted by Blackdogred at 10:58 AM
2 Comments:
He could have gotten a yellow for delaying (it was a Columbus free kick) and then he retaliated on a dead ball. Whether he connected on his hit or not is irrelevant. It was a dead ball and he ran directly at Gonzalez. Stupid, petulant, and definitely a red.
Of course given that it is MLS, things will be inconsistent. Remember Thorton's mugging of Moreno after a PK last year--only a yellow.
He got up on the ground and had decided to whack Gonzalez as hard as he could. Doesn't matter whether or not he DID get him as hard as he could, he wanted to. It is well within a ref's range of judgment to consider intent.
Esky's temper - and lack of a right foot - that'll keep him at this level, tops.
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