SoccerAmerica's Paul Garner talks about the Jaime Moreno goal against Philly on Saturday.
I have to admit the Moreno goal causes me a little conflict. As DC United fan, I am glad that he scored, but as a referee I am torn. Should a player be able to stalk a goalkeeper and wait until the keeper "releases" the ball to then poach a goal.
Here is the problem, U.S.S.F. has already indicated that Vaughn was wrong to allow the goal. But Gardner makes a good case for why the referee "experts" are wrong. Since I referee youth games, I will likely take the U.S. Soccer position since I need to protect the safety of younger players, but on a professional level, I have to side with Gardner on this one. Philly keeper Seitz dropped the ball and Moreno waited until the ball hit the ground before snagging it away. If Moreno had knocked the ball away while it was in the air after Seitz dropped it to punt, then maybe it would have been a foul. This is one of the gray areas that tend to crop up and I think for MLS, it should be allowed if the ball has touched the ground. Professional keepers need to keep control of the ball or move away from attacking players before putting the ball back into play.
2 comments:
Yeah but that's not where the problem comes in. You and Gardner are looking at it after the problem happened. The problem happened when Seitz is still in the process of releasing the ball. While Seitz is at full stretch, ready to drop the ball to punt, Moreno fakes like he is going to kick the ball forcing Seitz to react and drop the ball. That's where the foul that USSF is talking about. If Moreno doesn't fake like he is going to kick, then you are 100 percent right, but since he interferes, he commits the foul and deserves a yellow card.
Tony, you make a good point. I have reviewed the video a couple of times and while I can see your point and that of Paul Tamberino and Brian Hall, I am going to have to stick to my original assessment. The reason being that these are professionals and adults. Let's face it, I referee youth games and adult amatuer games and they get refereed differently. I will let adults do things on the pitch I would not allow kids to do. Likewise, I will let U16 players to do things I would never let a U12 player get away with.
Do I think Moreno's goal was cheap--yeah, I do. (and that is as a DC United fan). However, I don't think it is a violation of the laws of the game. I would probably let my adult amatuers get away with this, and maybe even high level U19's, but probably no one else, largely because I have to protect the safety of the players first and foremost. An attacker in Moreno's position *might* be able to pilfer the ball, but is likely to get kicked in the process because the keeper may not be able to stop his kicking motion.
Still, I suspect that U.S.S.F. will issue an interpretation or advice to referees to prevent this kind of behavior and that will be fine with me.
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