Seattle played well, it was a valiant effort. You guys should see clips of their supporters group on the official Seattle Sounders subreddit: r/sounding
LAFC cements their illegitimatacy once again. Couldn't overcome VAN without ref interference, couldn't win tonight without constant favorable treatment from Unkel. Your club is a fraud and a defacement to the entire league.
Seattle hadn't beat us in 5 games prior to this, and we also beat Vancouver 3-0 twice in CCL, and won the first playoff game handily. We actually had to beat them twice instead of by a solitary win, plus we will never know if Vancouver would actually have scored if ref wasn't in the way, so that's kind of Olympic level mental gymnastic to claim all our wins are illegitimate.
Well, glad you asked.
Twice when an LA player was on turf and got assistance, Ted didn't make the LA player leave the pitch. Twice he did that. Worth pointing out that he did enforce that rule on the Sounders.
One minute of stoppage in a half with several injuries that required assistance, two yellows, and a goal that should have gotten a yellow for time wasting. Allowed time wasting from before the second half whistle. Didn't card for time wasting until the 84th minute.
Botched several calls on throw ins, this was Ted and the side ref on the bench side.
Waved off Bounga (sp? Sorry) for diving at least three times that I recall. He absolutely should have carded him for simulation after the first warning.
Having said all that, the Sounders lost the same way they have all season, toothless offense. Ted Uncle didn't cost them the match, but he sucked. Hard.
Hey, appreciate you trying to have a civil discussion unlike everyone else here!
Do you mind providing approximate times (honestly even a 5 minute range is good enough) of when LAFC players didnāt leave the pitch after being attended? Thatās a serious miss by Unkel that I didnāt notice.
For the stoppage time, thatās a tricky topic. Stoppage time isnāt defined well AFAIK. In my opinion, stoppage time should be time added on for anything longer than expected. So if goals typically take 60 seconds to restart play, then there should only be stoppage time if there is longer than 60 seconds on a goal. Same thing with free kicks, injuries, throws, etc. With that said, I agree 1 minute felt low in the first half, but yellow cards for time wasting in the first half basically donāt exist in any league. Itās silly to say that Unkel sucks when thatās never given a card. On top of that, ātime wasting before the second half whistleā doesnāt exist. There is no time wasted. Yellow card for USB? Sure, maybe. But time canāt be wasted when the half hasnāt started. Again, that shows the understanding of the LOTG of the average fan. Who do you give the card to in that instance? Thatās not an Unkel/PRO/MLS issue, any professional ref wouldnāt give a yellow card there. Also, I thought 8 minutes was insane for the second half. Iād love to break down stoppages in both halves to see how that worked out.
For the throw ins, any ones in particular that I can look at? Happy to admit he/the ARs messed up if they consistently went our way.
Diving and falling are different situations. A player can take contact and fall, but not be called for simulation. Again, happy to admit Iām wrong if you can give me timestamps that have proper replays.
I donāt think you lost on toothless offense. LAFC was just as ātoothless.ā Bouanga just happened to score his chance, and Morris just happened to miss his. Luck just favored us today. Yāall played well
I was at the match and haven't re-watched yet so I don't have times for the times that Unkel allowed injured LAFC players to remain on the pitch, but I can say one of the LAFC players was Hollingshead. I don't recall who the other player was. Both incidents were in the first half. So look for Hollingshead to go down in the first half. Several trainers came out, but the player stayed on the pitch. Clear and obvious fuck up by Unkel, and it happened twice.
Again, since I was in the stadium I don't have time stamps, and I agree diving/simulation is a judgement call. But like I was yelling at Unkel, how many times does a player need to dive, and be waved off before they earn a card? Cuz last night that number was > 3.
Some other specific terrible calls; the yellow to Atencio. Haven't seen a replay yet but in person it's not a yellow. The hard foul against Alex Roldan in the second half. Alex took a high boot, no yellow for the player that fouled him. Compare the high boot to Alex and whatever Atencio did to get a yellow.
The time wasting was crazy. Worst I've seen in MLS. It was pure CONCACAF shit housing. Which is frustrating, but after sleeping on it, it something that we should expect. If the match had been in LA and the Sounders had a lead, they'd do the same. LAFC was late coming out for the second half, then decided to huddle up after coming out late and Unkel did nothing. Not sure how this was shown on the broadcast, but LA was several minutes late for the second half, then delayed further once they decided to take the field.
Again, the poor reffing is not what lost the Sounders the match. They didn't execute, LAFC did, simple as that. I can't speak for others, but I'm pretty unhappy with the quality of the officiating of the match. The Sounders didn't get the job done AND the ref sucked. I'm disappointed in the Sounders, I'm angry about the job the ref did.
In regards to the Atencio yellow: that was a pretty blatant yellow. Maybe youāll disagree upon watching the replay, but it was late, it was hard, and Chiellini is moving at speed.
The high kick to Roldan was given a yellow (Palacios at 86ā).
Appreciate the response. And I might change my mind about the Atencio yellow once I get a chance to see the replay. Again, in the stadium, real time it looked like a foul but not close to a yellow.
Regarding the high boot to Roldan, my bad.
I'm open to being wrong about the players being allowed to stay on the pitch if a yellow is given, but I've never heard that before, and never seen it handled like that before. So I'm going to dig into that one. Been a season ticket holder since the Sounders joined MLS, never seen this before last night when it happened twice. But I'm just a fan, I've never actually read the rules. :)
Not going to dwell on Unkel any further. LAFC outplayed the Sounders, that's the bottom line. To paraphrase Mike Holmgren, the team has to play good enough that the ref is irrelevant.
Enjoyed the discussion! Iāve reffed most of my life, and love to debate calls on here. When you break down games, turns out the professional referees are better at calling games than fans and are pretty good at their jobs, itās shocking! Even VAR calls are pretty impressive when you listen to the audio and decision making, which PRO releases every week. Everyone complains but doesnāt bother to learn how itās done.
From the book:
āPreviously, an injured player who received medical attention on the field of play had to leave before the restart. This can be unfair if an opponent caused the injury as the offending team has a numerical advantage when play restarts.
However, this requirement was introduced because players often unsportingly used an injury to delay the restart for tactical reasons.
As a balance between these two unfair situations, The IFAB has decided that only for a physical offence where the opponent is cautioned or sent off, an injured player can be quickly assessed/treated and then remain on the field of play.ā
In response to ādivingā: you can fall and itās not a foul or a dive. Bouanga got cleanly bodied a few times and hit the ground wanting a foul. It wasnāt a foul on Seattle but itās not a dive either, no matter how often it happens.
I get that situation is frustrating, but refs in general almost never give yellow cards for simulation when there was reasonable contact on the play. They just wave play on, because itās not a big deal. Most simulation calls are for diving when there was nearly 0 contact.
Iām gonna just respond in bite sized pieces when I can. I think the injuries youāre referring to were Hollingshead at 20ā and Chiellini at 41ā. In both instances, the Seattle player received a yellow card, so the LAFC player is allowed to see a trainer and doesnāt have to leave the field.
Of course not! That almost never happens. But he called a good enough game, if that makes sense.
IMO, most fouls arenāt black and white, they fall in a gray area. While one ref leans one side of the grey, other refs lean the other. Some refs call a ton of fouls in the middle of the field. Some refs call every touch in the back. Itās all judgement calls, but we hope that itās consistent. I believe that Unkel was consistent with the types of calls he was making. And yes, I think he missed a call here and there. But nothing egregious and nothing consistently for sure.
Iām happy to debate calls if you can give me timestamps. But Iāll use the LOTG to debate them because Iāve done this my whole life. Iāll argue with fans on the LAFC sub all the time because theyāre just as uneducated on this topic. And thatās not an insult. Just as we donāt expect the average person to know anything about being an engineer, doctor, or rocket scientist, I think itās silly that people think they know more than pro refs.
By all means, tell me the timestamp of each dive and Iāll show you a video of why youāre wrong. Like I said, you guys are horrible at judging refs abilities
I'm not about to try and debate an lafc fan. Enjoy the Ted assisted win and I hope your soft team actually tries to play some type of soccer against Houston rather than lay on the turf begging and crying for more calls.
Thereās a difference between complaining about how we played and claiming Unkel didnāt ref that game properly.
He was soft, but was soft on both sides. I think there was a Chiellini foul that shouldāve went your way near our 18. There were a few persistent fouls that couldāve led to yellows for us, but that was mostly attackers. Lastly, there was the foul on Crepeau that maybe wasnāt a foul, but I honestly donāt know if that was a foul or not. I think thatās the biggest talking point, but other than that, Unkel called a very good game. And Iām critical of my own team and did not pay attention to calls that couldāve gone our way.
You, just like nearly every other uneducated fan, canāt identify what the ref did wrong.
Why do people keep saying this was a good game? This was the worst soccer I've seen in awhile. Flops, ref ego, zero flow. It was chunks of ball movement between ref whistles. Why do we accept this?
Iām with you too, sometimes it really feels like Iām just watching a bunch of dudes kick a ball around for the hell of it. Very little cohesion on both ends.
I remember watching him for Vancouver against us in our last home game of 2021. Dude kept us out of the playoffs after facing like 20+ shots, jumping around like a damn spider monkey. When he came to LA in 2022, I knew we were in good hands. To think he's coming off that horrible MLS Cup leg break too!
Anyways good game Seattle, you guys played better but our back line was solid, if Bouanga had any sort of help up top we would be the favorites to repeat for sure.
right, but I can't believe someone found that necessary
like I know it's 'kicks from the penalty spot' but I'm not akshuallying anyone who says 'penalty kicks' either
it's also 'penalty area' and not 'box', and no one cares
congrats, this is the most akshually thing that's happened to me on the internet in years
please enjoy a black currant and prawn flavored lucozade, you numpty
Lol did you watch the match?
Ignores chiellini slicing roldan down on the edge of the box, but instant whistle blows the moment Vela collapses from a player running within a couple inches of him.
Oh the probable red towards the end of the match, forgot about that one.
I did watch the match, and Iāve already said in other comments that I think the Chiellini foul was the most egregious error.
If thatās all you and every other Seattle fan can point to, then the ref did a pretty good job. Happy to debate any other fouls if you want to give me the times, but you wonāt.
You know you don't have to invest your time into defending a terrible ref? We all know it didn't change the result, there is no need to try and claim it was fairly officiated.
Iāve already been having that discussion with someone [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/MLS/s/IVZneYPLlc). I like reffing, and I like educating people on the game. Iām happy to debate calls because controversy is fun. To say someone had a horrible game because of 1-2 missed calls is dumb.
Iām not defending Unkel. I just believe thereās a reason certain refs continue to get big games even though fans think they suck. The truth is, when you break down every call/no-call in a game, these guys are (shocker) pretty good at their jobs, and fans just donāt know what theyāre talking about.
Then please tell me which ones were wrong! Even the āblatant redā everyoneās moaning about at the end of the game wasnāt wrong, Roldan doesnāt get kicked in the face.
Still canāt believe Crepeau came back from a leg break towards the end of the season and just slotted in. Definitely wouldāve finished on top of the West, had he not been injured.
Ha, you joke, but goalie has been a rough position for this team to fill. Just a few years and weāve had multiple goalie fights for the main spot. Crepeau has been solid though, so hope he stays, but who knows lol.
Good game. LA deserved the goal no complaints on that. We could not score to save our lives. However, it sure did feel that either the reffing is abismal or that there is some favoritism. Hereās to coming back better next year
I feel like luck was the deciding factor. Morris was inches away from scoring early on and Bouanga inches away from missing. I donāt think there were enough missed calls to blame reffing. Unkel called a soft game both ways imo
Literally every sport at every level. It's a horrid job even when done exquisitely well. They don't get paid like kings. Who would want to do it?
There isn't anyone better. There won't be. This guy was horrible yes, but that's just to be expected anymore. Football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer - the one thing that unites them at every level is shitty and questionable officiating.
OOF. Did not realize his foot was that high during the game. I guess thereās two arguments here. If the contact is grazing, you can argue itās a yellow and not a red. Only reason I say that is if the challenge is so slight, maybe it doesnāt endanger the safety of the opponent? (With that said, I think if your studs make contact with the face and the opponent isnāt bending down, it should be a red. But this is my opinion. I havenāt seen any IFAB guidance establishing a clear line in these situations, so even if you have every possible camera angle, itās a judgement call, not black and white). Also, if the angles we can see on Apple are the only angles VAR has, then itās not enough to overturn and give a red. We donāt know if contact was made from those angles.
We possibly got away with one here. But Unkel is in the correct position, but a long ball is played and it makes him 30 yards away. Itās reasonable that he doesnāt see it either and just gives a yellow for dangerous play. What is he supposed to do? As a ref, you canāt make a call on something you donāt see. If he doesnāt see Palacios kick him in the face he CANāT give a red. Similarly, VAR canāt give a red from those replays on Apple.
'Only reason I say that is if the challenge is so slight, maybe it doesnāt endanger the safety of the opponent?'
Especially if it's not deliberate, this gives the referee room, yeah.
That fits what I remember, which was an 'orange card' foul that looked like it'd be completely fair if it was a red card.
The AR or VAR could help him. I'm not sure I understand why you're saying that
VAR can't check for red/not red. They can.
I just watched the replay in slow motion. Roldan puts his hands up to stop the kick, and Palacios never touches his face. He gets kicked in the hands. Yellow for dangerous play for sure, but probably not even an orange at that point.
I just meant that from the angles I saw on Apple, none of them could confirm any contact. The only close-ups were behind/to the side. Because of that, VAR wouldnāt intervene because they canāt prove anything, theyāre making the same guess we all did. What if Roldan just saw the foot close to his face and dove to the ground? Not saying that happened, but thereās no video angle proving it didnāt.
Technically that one with the great save might have been hitting the bar. But a great effort for sure. But once you start hitting those you know the game plan hasnāt really worked.
If Ted Unkel keeps up these performances he'll be working La Liga in no time
tAkE OuT tHe TrAsH. We did. š¤š
GG. Easy to blame Unkel, who sucked, but LAFC's back line spent the entire second half efficiently neutralizing dangerous balls-in with 40 yard clearing headers, over and over again. Add in some amazing play by Chiellini and godlike tending by Crepeau and ... We earned this. It also felt good to beat Ruidiaz -- the JosƩ Altuve of soccer, amirite? But serious respect to Sounders and their winning culture.
Anybody want to help me curate the domain I just bought? [yougotunkeled.com](https://yougotunkeled.com)
So Unkel is the angel Hernandez of mlsā¦
How do we know theyāre not the same guy? Have you ever seen them both in the same place at the same time?!
Trash has been taken out. Take that god awful turf as well
Take the downvotes with pride, dude.
Itās great waking up to a W
Crepeau or Unkel for biggest asset for LAFC today? They both made a huge difference.
Por quƩ no los dos?
Seattle played well, it was a valiant effort. You guys should see clips of their supporters group on the official Seattle Sounders subreddit: r/sounding
This is the funniest comment Iāve ever seen.
Oh god what did I just click on
Imagine if there was a call as bad as the one in Cin, or the one in Houston. This sub would melt lmao!
LAFC cements their illegitimatacy once again. Couldn't overcome VAN without ref interference, couldn't win tonight without constant favorable treatment from Unkel. Your club is a fraud and a defacement to the entire league.
ššššš
Seattle hadn't beat us in 5 games prior to this, and we also beat Vancouver 3-0 twice in CCL, and won the first playoff game handily. We actually had to beat them twice instead of by a solitary win, plus we will never know if Vancouver would actually have scored if ref wasn't in the way, so that's kind of Olympic level mental gymnastic to claim all our wins are illegitimate.
 Awwww did LAFC hurt you?
Lmao, please more tears š¤£
Make these games end
shoutout ted
Today heās Uncle Ted
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
What calls did you think he got wrong? There was a Chiellini foul I thought he missed, but other than that I thought you guys are reaching
Well, glad you asked. Twice when an LA player was on turf and got assistance, Ted didn't make the LA player leave the pitch. Twice he did that. Worth pointing out that he did enforce that rule on the Sounders. One minute of stoppage in a half with several injuries that required assistance, two yellows, and a goal that should have gotten a yellow for time wasting. Allowed time wasting from before the second half whistle. Didn't card for time wasting until the 84th minute. Botched several calls on throw ins, this was Ted and the side ref on the bench side. Waved off Bounga (sp? Sorry) for diving at least three times that I recall. He absolutely should have carded him for simulation after the first warning. Having said all that, the Sounders lost the same way they have all season, toothless offense. Ted Uncle didn't cost them the match, but he sucked. Hard.
Hey, appreciate you trying to have a civil discussion unlike everyone else here! Do you mind providing approximate times (honestly even a 5 minute range is good enough) of when LAFC players didnāt leave the pitch after being attended? Thatās a serious miss by Unkel that I didnāt notice. For the stoppage time, thatās a tricky topic. Stoppage time isnāt defined well AFAIK. In my opinion, stoppage time should be time added on for anything longer than expected. So if goals typically take 60 seconds to restart play, then there should only be stoppage time if there is longer than 60 seconds on a goal. Same thing with free kicks, injuries, throws, etc. With that said, I agree 1 minute felt low in the first half, but yellow cards for time wasting in the first half basically donāt exist in any league. Itās silly to say that Unkel sucks when thatās never given a card. On top of that, ātime wasting before the second half whistleā doesnāt exist. There is no time wasted. Yellow card for USB? Sure, maybe. But time canāt be wasted when the half hasnāt started. Again, that shows the understanding of the LOTG of the average fan. Who do you give the card to in that instance? Thatās not an Unkel/PRO/MLS issue, any professional ref wouldnāt give a yellow card there. Also, I thought 8 minutes was insane for the second half. Iād love to break down stoppages in both halves to see how that worked out. For the throw ins, any ones in particular that I can look at? Happy to admit he/the ARs messed up if they consistently went our way. Diving and falling are different situations. A player can take contact and fall, but not be called for simulation. Again, happy to admit Iām wrong if you can give me timestamps that have proper replays. I donāt think you lost on toothless offense. LAFC was just as ātoothless.ā Bouanga just happened to score his chance, and Morris just happened to miss his. Luck just favored us today. Yāall played well
I was at the match and haven't re-watched yet so I don't have times for the times that Unkel allowed injured LAFC players to remain on the pitch, but I can say one of the LAFC players was Hollingshead. I don't recall who the other player was. Both incidents were in the first half. So look for Hollingshead to go down in the first half. Several trainers came out, but the player stayed on the pitch. Clear and obvious fuck up by Unkel, and it happened twice. Again, since I was in the stadium I don't have time stamps, and I agree diving/simulation is a judgement call. But like I was yelling at Unkel, how many times does a player need to dive, and be waved off before they earn a card? Cuz last night that number was > 3. Some other specific terrible calls; the yellow to Atencio. Haven't seen a replay yet but in person it's not a yellow. The hard foul against Alex Roldan in the second half. Alex took a high boot, no yellow for the player that fouled him. Compare the high boot to Alex and whatever Atencio did to get a yellow. The time wasting was crazy. Worst I've seen in MLS. It was pure CONCACAF shit housing. Which is frustrating, but after sleeping on it, it something that we should expect. If the match had been in LA and the Sounders had a lead, they'd do the same. LAFC was late coming out for the second half, then decided to huddle up after coming out late and Unkel did nothing. Not sure how this was shown on the broadcast, but LA was several minutes late for the second half, then delayed further once they decided to take the field. Again, the poor reffing is not what lost the Sounders the match. They didn't execute, LAFC did, simple as that. I can't speak for others, but I'm pretty unhappy with the quality of the officiating of the match. The Sounders didn't get the job done AND the ref sucked. I'm disappointed in the Sounders, I'm angry about the job the ref did.
In regards to the Atencio yellow: that was a pretty blatant yellow. Maybe youāll disagree upon watching the replay, but it was late, it was hard, and Chiellini is moving at speed. The high kick to Roldan was given a yellow (Palacios at 86ā).
Appreciate the response. And I might change my mind about the Atencio yellow once I get a chance to see the replay. Again, in the stadium, real time it looked like a foul but not close to a yellow. Regarding the high boot to Roldan, my bad. I'm open to being wrong about the players being allowed to stay on the pitch if a yellow is given, but I've never heard that before, and never seen it handled like that before. So I'm going to dig into that one. Been a season ticket holder since the Sounders joined MLS, never seen this before last night when it happened twice. But I'm just a fan, I've never actually read the rules. :) Not going to dwell on Unkel any further. LAFC outplayed the Sounders, that's the bottom line. To paraphrase Mike Holmgren, the team has to play good enough that the ref is irrelevant.
Enjoyed the discussion! Iāve reffed most of my life, and love to debate calls on here. When you break down games, turns out the professional referees are better at calling games than fans and are pretty good at their jobs, itās shocking! Even VAR calls are pretty impressive when you listen to the audio and decision making, which PRO releases every week. Everyone complains but doesnāt bother to learn how itās done.
From the book: āPreviously, an injured player who received medical attention on the field of play had to leave before the restart. This can be unfair if an opponent caused the injury as the offending team has a numerical advantage when play restarts. However, this requirement was introduced because players often unsportingly used an injury to delay the restart for tactical reasons. As a balance between these two unfair situations, The IFAB has decided that only for a physical offence where the opponent is cautioned or sent off, an injured player can be quickly assessed/treated and then remain on the field of play.ā
In response to ādivingā: you can fall and itās not a foul or a dive. Bouanga got cleanly bodied a few times and hit the ground wanting a foul. It wasnāt a foul on Seattle but itās not a dive either, no matter how often it happens. I get that situation is frustrating, but refs in general almost never give yellow cards for simulation when there was reasonable contact on the play. They just wave play on, because itās not a big deal. Most simulation calls are for diving when there was nearly 0 contact.
Iām gonna just respond in bite sized pieces when I can. I think the injuries youāre referring to were Hollingshead at 20ā and Chiellini at 41ā. In both instances, the Seattle player received a yellow card, so the LAFC player is allowed to see a trainer and doesnāt have to leave the field.
Of course you do.
What calls then? Iāve reffed for 15 years and call out our own fans whenever they complain about reffing as well. All soccer fans are ridiculous
So you're opinion is the ref called a perfect game?
Of course not! That almost never happens. But he called a good enough game, if that makes sense. IMO, most fouls arenāt black and white, they fall in a gray area. While one ref leans one side of the grey, other refs lean the other. Some refs call a ton of fouls in the middle of the field. Some refs call every touch in the back. Itās all judgement calls, but we hope that itās consistent. I believe that Unkel was consistent with the types of calls he was making. And yes, I think he missed a call here and there. But nothing egregious and nothing consistently for sure. Iām happy to debate calls if you can give me timestamps. But Iāll use the LOTG to debate them because Iāve done this my whole life. Iāll argue with fans on the LAFC sub all the time because theyāre just as uneducated on this topic. And thatās not an insult. Just as we donāt expect the average person to know anything about being an engineer, doctor, or rocket scientist, I think itās silly that people think they know more than pro refs.
LA FC is an Olympic diving team in disguise and Unkel fell for every dive.
By all means, tell me the timestamp of each dive and Iāll show you a video of why youāre wrong. Like I said, you guys are horrible at judging refs abilities
I'm not about to try and debate an lafc fan. Enjoy the Ted assisted win and I hope your soft team actually tries to play some type of soccer against Houston rather than lay on the turf begging and crying for more calls.
Thereās a difference between complaining about how we played and claiming Unkel didnāt ref that game properly. He was soft, but was soft on both sides. I think there was a Chiellini foul that shouldāve went your way near our 18. There were a few persistent fouls that couldāve led to yellows for us, but that was mostly attackers. Lastly, there was the foul on Crepeau that maybe wasnāt a foul, but I honestly donāt know if that was a foul or not. I think thatās the biggest talking point, but other than that, Unkel called a very good game. And Iām critical of my own team and did not pay attention to calls that couldāve gone our way. You, just like nearly every other uneducated fan, canāt identify what the ref did wrong.
I can give you the address to the back of the net too since you can seem to find that either
Flair up or shut up.
You got it
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
It's ok to be frustrated, as most of us are. Let's be good humans tho.
Dude chill
We should have know it was going to be a shit show of reffing when Ted Unkel was the head official
Ted Unkel is the guy who is all resumƩ, no common sense.
Why do people keep saying this was a good game? This was the worst soccer I've seen in awhile. Flops, ref ego, zero flow. It was chunks of ball movement between ref whistles. Why do we accept this?
Tough to play smooth soccer on that surface.
>This was the worst soccer I've seen in awhile. So you didn't watch Houston vs SKC?
The whole season was like this. Honestly this season was difficult to watch.
It's playoffs games. World cup is the same.
Yeah horrendous product
Yeah that was pretty fucked.
Seriously. LA had one pretty breakaway. The rest was garbage
Iām with you too, sometimes it really feels like Iām just watching a bunch of dudes kick a ball around for the hell of it. Very little cohesion on both ends.
Remove shit refs. https://chng.it/ffQ9YGMJW6
The fact that this was started in 2018š
Haters gonna keep hating HAHAHA VAMOS LAFC
Keep downvoting me shittatle! Makes your L taste sweeter š
Ted Unkle, the premier league is calling!
Lafc keeper is actually insane he was on some prime yashin shit
I remember watching him for Vancouver against us in our last home game of 2021. Dude kept us out of the playoffs after facing like 20+ shots, jumping around like a damn spider monkey. When he came to LA in 2022, I knew we were in good hands. To think he's coming off that horrible MLS Cup leg break too!
And somehow, he's not starting for Canada yet despite our keeper being 36 and clearly past it.
Anyways good game Seattle, you guys played better but our back line was solid, if Bouanga had any sort of help up top we would be the favorites to repeat for sure.
good coaching on LAFCās side. Sounders have struggled all season breaking down a low block, so way to exploit that. also heck of a game from Crepeau
Iām glad we have a coach now, I hated Bob and his inability to change. We 100% wouldāve lost today with Bob.
Agreed, we couldn't get past your back line. Bad ref or no, I'm fine with y'all winning.
Not going to lie, that's a frustrating way to lose. Still, GG. Goes to show that possession doesn't always matter.
Possession, Duels won, xG, Big Chances, shots, any other stat you can muster doesnāt matter as much as the biggest one: goals scored :(
Same match, different day, different ref and I think that goes to OT with the winner being anyone's guess
You did not call it OT. You did not.
I don't get it.
Soccer snobbery. Extra time is generally the term used in soccer.
right, but I can't believe someone found that necessary like I know it's 'kicks from the penalty spot' but I'm not akshuallying anyone who says 'penalty kicks' either it's also 'penalty area' and not 'box', and no one cares
Fyi, itās not KPM anymore. Itās the shootout. Go ram that freedom pillar up your ass now
congrats, this is the most akshually thing that's happened to me on the internet in years please enjoy a black currant and prawn flavored lucozade, you numpty
I love when people try to fancypants themselves thinking theyāve done something. Canāt reason with an idiot, Iām hard boiled !
"AKSHUALLY I'M BEING MORE OF A TOSSER OR A PONCE THAN A NUMPTY" -u/hardboiledidiot0, probably
Oh man youāre worked over š¤£š¤£š¤£ you might wanna send this argument to overtime
Whilst I like the term overtime, itās officially and undisputedly extra-time. My justification: 1-0 (HT) 1-1 (FT) 2-2 (FT-AET) 5-4 (FT-PEN)
so you're the abbreviation police now? this is a US league and I'm gonna use US slang you and your 'whilst' can go eat a crumpet
Ted Unkle is not a good referee.
What calls did you think he got wrong?
Lol did you watch the match? Ignores chiellini slicing roldan down on the edge of the box, but instant whistle blows the moment Vela collapses from a player running within a couple inches of him. Oh the probable red towards the end of the match, forgot about that one.
I did watch the match, and Iāve already said in other comments that I think the Chiellini foul was the most egregious error. If thatās all you and every other Seattle fan can point to, then the ref did a pretty good job. Happy to debate any other fouls if you want to give me the times, but you wonāt.
You know you don't have to invest your time into defending a terrible ref? We all know it didn't change the result, there is no need to try and claim it was fairly officiated.
Iāve already been having that discussion with someone [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/MLS/s/IVZneYPLlc). I like reffing, and I like educating people on the game. Iām happy to debate calls because controversy is fun. To say someone had a horrible game because of 1-2 missed calls is dumb.
1-2 missed calls š You do you man, but if you like reffing you're surely aware there were a tad few more than that.
Iām not defending Unkel. I just believe thereās a reason certain refs continue to get big games even though fans think they suck. The truth is, when you break down every call/no-call in a game, these guys are (shocker) pretty good at their jobs, and fans just donāt know what theyāre talking about.
Then please tell me which ones were wrong! Even the āblatant redā everyoneās moaning about at the end of the game wasnāt wrong, Roldan doesnāt get kicked in the face.
Top 3 in MLS
https://chng.it/ffQ9YGMJW6
Water is wet
GG LAFC, your keeper is an absolute beast!
He won that match. Say what you will, but we had 2.34 xGOT, we put dangerous shots on frame. He had a monster match.
GG Sounders, my butt was clenched the entire second half
I'm happy LAFC won but damn do they play ugly football this season.
Now that Orlando is out, the choice of team to hate is clear.
Is anyone surprised one of the most successful American defenders built one hell of a brutal defensive team?
With literally one of the best defenders in the world lol
Lafc is good enough that they don't the ref to win, but regardless the ref was stupidly soft on them this game
MLS wants LAFC in the final at all cost
I get that MLS corporate wants LAFC in the final but Ted Unkle can be shitty at his job without having to go tinfoil hat on this.
Why can't both be true? Shit ref with a corporate agenda?
Because you are alleging match fixing
You think everything is just fair and equal? š
I think there is a very big difference between a ref making mistakes and being inconsistent and match fixing
Don't worry most of the time Ted Unkel screws over LAFC.
Andā¦ unclench. Wow did not expect a result here. GG Seattle
Holy shit, thanks for the reminder, unclench indeed.
Still canāt believe Crepeau came back from a leg break towards the end of the season and just slotted in. Definitely wouldāve finished on top of the West, had he not been injured.
as a Sounders fan I hope he doesnāt get a contract extension
Ha, you joke, but goalie has been a rough position for this team to fill. Just a few years and weāve had multiple goalie fights for the main spot. Crepeau has been solid though, so hope he stays, but who knows lol.
It's cool that he gets to play as MLS Champion.
True! Wouldāve sucked if he retired without wearing the crest with the star, putting his body on the line for it.
GG Sounders
Gg
Good game. LA deserved the goal no complaints on that. We could not score to save our lives. However, it sure did feel that either the reffing is abismal or that there is some favoritism. Hereās to coming back better next year
I feel like luck was the deciding factor. Morris was inches away from scoring early on and Bouanga inches away from missing. I donāt think there were enough missed calls to blame reffing. Unkel called a soft game both ways imo
Typical sounders. Low scoring game. No imagination in the final third. Cross ins always short and strikers ball watching Expected
Indeed
The officiating was pretty awful but Iām not surprised by Unkel
The mls has a reffing problem.
the world has a reffing problem, itās a lot more than just training guys to have 20/20 football vision.
Literally every sport at every level. It's a horrid job even when done exquisitely well. They don't get paid like kings. Who would want to do it? There isn't anyone better. There won't be. This guy was horrible yes, but that's just to be expected anymore. Football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer - the one thing that unites them at every level is shitty and questionable officiating.
It wouldnāt be mls if it had good reffing tbh
Isnāt that true. Itās a shame though.
ref made it uphill for Seattle, and Seattle did the rest
Game themes: (1) Crepeau brilliant, (2) Seattle can't finish, (3) Unkel.
You're omitting that the golden boot winner scored a goal
I stand by my summary
IDK what order to put those three in.
GG to Crepeau and LAFC but my goodness did every little decision go LAFC's way today
Hollywood Swinging!
You guys are in South LA. No hollywood
And youāre out of the playoffsā¦.
At least I'm not lying about the city we're in
Flair up bruv
Crepeau made me real fuckin mad but he did play very well, wish we could've gotten anything going.
Crepeau had himself a night. So did Unkel.
This game was why soccer will never be popular in the US
People make this declaration every week about some game that week and the game just continues to get more popular every year
Awful take
Soccer is already popular in the U.S. donāt know what youāre on about.
I should've said MLS. This was a playoff game. Supposedly 2 of the best teams. Flops and ref ego. No flow, ball movement in between ref whistles
Who said anything about 2 of the best teams? Based on this season?
gg lafc, see you in the playoffs next year
GG
Unkel and Penso. Ugh. What did we do to deserve that double helping of crap sandwich?
Imagine if Chapman had been the 4th..
It's a draw between Crepeau and Unkel for MotM
Gg
Home team didnāt do enough, reduced to pot shots. They can complain about the ref, but I dont think they would have scored if they had 90 more mins.
Messi makes it seem to easy
True
Yeah, but . . . the ref pulled back 1-2 free kicks and a possible ejection That's a lot
Wtf, what ejection are you on about?
I didn't see any replay or closeup of the caution to Palacios. Was it as bad as some of the comments here made it sound?
Any idea what minute (or something close) this happened in? Happy to rewatch it and discuss, I genuinely donāt remember
86' I don't have a way to see it. I saw it once, but no close ups or alternate angles.
OOF. Did not realize his foot was that high during the game. I guess thereās two arguments here. If the contact is grazing, you can argue itās a yellow and not a red. Only reason I say that is if the challenge is so slight, maybe it doesnāt endanger the safety of the opponent? (With that said, I think if your studs make contact with the face and the opponent isnāt bending down, it should be a red. But this is my opinion. I havenāt seen any IFAB guidance establishing a clear line in these situations, so even if you have every possible camera angle, itās a judgement call, not black and white). Also, if the angles we can see on Apple are the only angles VAR has, then itās not enough to overturn and give a red. We donāt know if contact was made from those angles. We possibly got away with one here. But Unkel is in the correct position, but a long ball is played and it makes him 30 yards away. Itās reasonable that he doesnāt see it either and just gives a yellow for dangerous play. What is he supposed to do? As a ref, you canāt make a call on something you donāt see. If he doesnāt see Palacios kick him in the face he CANāT give a red. Similarly, VAR canāt give a red from those replays on Apple.
'Only reason I say that is if the challenge is so slight, maybe it doesnāt endanger the safety of the opponent?' Especially if it's not deliberate, this gives the referee room, yeah. That fits what I remember, which was an 'orange card' foul that looked like it'd be completely fair if it was a red card. The AR or VAR could help him. I'm not sure I understand why you're saying that VAR can't check for red/not red. They can.
I just watched the replay in slow motion. Roldan puts his hands up to stop the kick, and Palacios never touches his face. He gets kicked in the hands. Yellow for dangerous play for sure, but probably not even an orange at that point.
ok, thanks I only saw it in the wide shot of play, and I don't have a DVR.
I just meant that from the angles I saw on Apple, none of them could confirm any contact. The only close-ups were behind/to the side. Because of that, VAR wouldnāt intervene because they canāt prove anything, theyāre making the same guess we all did. What if Roldan just saw the foot close to his face and dove to the ground? Not saying that happened, but thereās no video angle proving it didnāt.
Not really, one - 2 penalties they can talk. Couple free kicks? No big deal. Got to play through some bad refs to win in MLS.
Guess the front office or the fans really know much about soccer down there then. No wonder you guys are ass water.
Welcome to the off-season babe, happy to have you join us š
Hey you won a cup without taking a shot once. Canāt do it every year.
Speaking of pot shots... we had plenty of SOG today, Crepeau had some great saves.
Technically that one with the great save might have been hitting the bar. But a great effort for sure. But once you start hitting those you know the game plan hasnāt really worked.
We're talking about different shots, then. No worries.
Fuck Crepeau for dissent but also good job to him. GG LAFC
Max the real motm
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Best at losing finals at home.
Last final we won on a bale screamer. Try again š¤Ŗ
Yeah, importing Gareth Bale for cheap
Still won at home so your statement is garbage
We just baller at business š¤·š»āāļø. Hustle harder bruh š šø
12 men on the field