When A Referee Makes The Beautiful Game Ugly - Page 2

Players and coaches will always play to the limits of what a referee will call. Baseball pitchers know an umpires strike zone and will work all day at the limits of it. Basketball players know just how much of a pick they can set, cornerbacks know to turn their head to look for the ball to avoid pass interference.

Soccer players are no different. The LA Galaxy came out of the locker room with some hard, late, and behind-the-player tackles to test referee Tim Weyland and his whistle. When he failed to call them on it, they continued to push the limits, taking down Seattle forward Nate Jaqua in the penalty box late in the first half, a tackle that would have resulted in a penalty kick with any other referee.

Seattle went into the locker room knowing that any semblance of control from Weyland was gone. He could no more control the physicality of the match than I could have. Play continued in the second half with a hard edge to it, a fire looking for a place to start.

That spark came in the 56th minute when Galaxy defender Gregg Berhalter snatched away the ball on what was to be a Seattle free kick. That led to a scuffle between Sounders FC defender James Riley, who was given a yellow card, fighting for the ball with Berhalter and Galaxy defender Mike Magee, was also cautioned. Magee joins Vlade Divac in being a natural in Hollywood for the acting job he put on trying to sell that Riley had punched him. Replays show that all the players were swinging arms at the ball in the melee but no punches were thrown. Unfortunately, an assistant official bought Magee’s performance and convinced Weyland to change Riley's yellow card to a red meaning Riley was ejected, and Sounders FC had to play with just 10 men from the 58th minute on.

For the final 22 minutes, the whistle never stopped. Fouls were more frequent than any kind of scoring opportunity. With a final total of 27 fouls called, 16 against LA and 11 against Seattle, Weyland was a busy man in the middle of a firestorm. Just under 30,000 fans booed Weyland and the officials lustily after the, thankfully, final whistle, closing the book on an ugly 1-1 draw.

Article Author: Russ Evenhuis

I am a writer in a mid-life crisis. My passions are Seahawks football, triathlons, rugby, sports in general, Guinness, reading, writing, television, music, computers, family, and movies.

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