MLS hands down Real punishment
Jason Kreis suspended for 1 game for comments about officials
RSL coach Kreis suspended, fined real.saltlake.mlsnet.com
The Major League Soccer Disciplinary Committee today suspended Real Salt Lake Head Coach Jason Kreis one (1) game and fined him $1,000 for public criticism of MLS officiating.
SL Trib coverage
Deseret News coverage
The original statements Deseret News
Jason Kreis’ frustration with Major League Soccer officiating has escalated for the past three weeks, and Real Salt Lake’s coach isn’t going to sit back idly any longer.
“After three successive weeks of game-changing decisions, it’s time we vent a little bit and put things right,” said Kreis on Monday afternoon. “I have a team doing their best to reward fans through a frustrating time and a frustrating few years. I feel the players are doing what they need to, the coaching staff is doing what they do, but being wronged by critical referee decisions is unacceptable.”
Price for talking ussoccerplayers.typepad.com
On my soapbox
So nothing mentioned by Jason in the article is wrong, in fact he is mild in my opinion. He doesn’t mention fouls in the DC United match that could have easily been called for an RSL penalty kick that was similar to a call that went DC’s way. He didn’t mention the missed calls by Kevin Scott during the match, he didn’t mention that Kevin Scott lives in LA and is rumored to be a Galaxy fan. Jason simply voiced what fans all around the league have said for years, the officials in MLS are anything but professional, they far too often miss easy calls and then make horrible calls in an attempt to make up the missed call. If the league expects players and coaches to not be critical, then they have to do something to get a more consistent effort from the officials. The match last weekend is not the first time Kevin Scott has been involved in matches where the officiating has been questioned; there are numbers of posts on the various soccer boards and blogs that question his ability and professionalism. There is also the incident two years ago at the World Cup, where Scott was involved in an officiating mistake made on the sports grandest stage.
OFF MY SOAPBOX
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