A pair of 0-0 draws on Sunday to wrap up the first MLS matchday of the year…until a refereeing controversy in L.A.! Then Lionel Messi happened. Here’s the Feed:
Around MLS
-The first two matches of Sunday finished goalless: FC Cincinnati outplayed Toronto FC but weren’t able to get one past Sean Johnson in John Herdman’s debut with TFC. Same story in Nashville SC-New York Red Bulls, as the Sandro Schwarz era for RBNY began with a road point and the Red Bulls holding a 1.5-0.2 edge in xG.
-LA Galaxy-Inter Miami was trending that way as well before Dejan Joveljic scored with a quarter-hour remaining and it looked like LA could (could) see this one out. But then Mark Delgado was shown a 2nd yellow in the 87th for…this.
Then Lionel Messi scored at 90’+2 and the Herons were able to leave town with a point. This in a match where the hosts outshot the visitors 23-11, had a 9-5 shots on goal advantage, and held a 3.9 (!)-0.9 edge in xG. The Delgado 2nd yellow will garner most of the attention but…LA left way too much on the table in this one.
Here’s Delgado’s reaction to the call, by the way:
Who’s your player of the week from Matchday 1?
Let us know in the comments. Here’s who stood out to me:
–Antony, Portland Timbers. Not a bad first game for the 22-year-old Brazillian under new head coach Phil Neville, bagging a 1st-half brace as the Timbers dumped the Colorado Rapids 4-1.
–Christian Benteke, D.C. United. He put up 14 goals last season and picked up right where he left off on Saturday, recording his 2nd career hat trick as DCU defeated ten-man New England Revolution 3-1 to spoil Caleb Porter’s Revs debut.
–Sean Johnson, Toronto FC. Johnson and TFC had a dreadful campaign in 2023. He looked like prime Sean Johnson on Sunday, though, making 7 saves as the Reds drew the Supporters’ Shield holders at TQL Stadium.
–Jonathan Sirois, CF Montréal. It wasn’t a win for CFM, but it picked up a season-opening point behind 5 Sirois saves against a stacked Orlando team to kick off the Laurent Courtois era.
Goal of the Matchday
Without a doubt:
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The LA-Miami was an enjoyable game to watch. Too bad LA could not finish their chances; it came back to bite them. I wish we (AU) had Miami’s GK; he’s keeping them in the games so far or they would’ve been 0-2. LA has a scary team, I think they’ll do well; not so sure about Miami though, but hey… there are 2-0, so what do I know.
eh, 1-1-0, and barely at that. Messi has had to save them both times.
Sorry, for some reason I thought not losing last night meant 2-0; my bad. You are correct 1-1; barely
wouldn’t a second yellow not get a review from VAR?
I think only direct reds?
Edit: but to your point, its a bit of a grey area because refs can review for possible red card offenses and give a yellow.
https://www.theifab.com/laws/latest/video-assistant-referee-var-protocol/#principles
Refs cannot review second yellows, which I think is a mistake. Any sending off needs to be 100% certain. It changes the game too much for it to be left up to chance.
The VAR should be able to call down and say, “That should have been a straight red,” and bring the ref over to the video screen so he can see he missed it. Then, upon further review, take away the second yellow.
If they can do it with the first yellow, why not the second?
I remember a time where a second yellow allow the team to sub in a player and not play short. I would be fine going back to this.
Straight reds are you are playing a man down still.
That was a terrible decision by the ref. The Miami player was not even touched.
I say they should go back and look at these and hand out simulation yellows after the fact. Simulation needs to be cleaned up out of the game.
They can appeal the suspension though…so, hooray justice?
Wow, that’s bad. PRO refs have been bad, but I don’t think they’ve hardly ever been *that* bad.
Worst no touch card I’ve seen since maybe the air gap red card that Sacha Klejestan got against Orlando’s Cyle Larin in the previous decade. SK went down like he was shot and Larin got a red card and NYRB tied the match afterward. Red was dropped on appeal.
By the way, my SB Nation name of Zontar was unavailable here. Hence the newish name. Anybody who posts as just Zontar here, it isn’t me.
Welcome aboard 🫡
Only thing is Larin probably deserved it from some previous event(s) and this was just make up or karma.
Just had a thought trying to help someone else, unless Zontar being taken is an issue with WordPress, it could be that it’s attached to the wrong email here.
I did try a few different emails just in case that was the case, but no joy. Perhaps this new name is a chance to be less confrontational and better behaved, a win for all.