Real Salt Lake robbed again by Kevin Stott
September 13, 2008 by f4denz.
If RSL misses the playoffs one of the main reasons will be the performance of head official Kevin Stott ( see Link One The punishment of Jason for calling the officials of the LA 2-2 draw on the carpet for bad calls (yup the first two points that Kevin Stott stole from RSL- in favor of his home town team). Then Link Two which is links to my post in which US Soccer as part of their review of MLS officials agrees that both controversial calls in the LA match were wrong.).
Now we have another clear example of Kevin Stott and his crew making two horrible no calls both of which lead to goals and keep RSL from getting a much needed road win. It was clear that Juan Pablo Angel pulled down Olave to get past him in 49th minute, Stott was in a clear position to make the call, but did not. I am sure it is that Olave is a large guy and surely little ole Angel could pull him down, but sorry that wasn’t the issue and listening to the two different perspectives it is funny that the New York announce team say it was clearly a foul. For some reason Dunny and Riles seem to think it wasn’t a foul, I think they are voicing more their frustration at the play of RSL on defense the last couple weeks, rather than looking only at the play in question.
The second missed call was the fact that the Red Bulls had two players offside on the 64th minute goal by Dave van den Bergh. It is funny that RSL had a goal pulled of the scoreboard in each of their last two matches after the officials confer to discuss if a player was offside, but when a clear call like this is missed it really makes you wonder if the league is somehow trying to ensure that the Galaxy get into the playoffs? With LA losing before the RSL-NY match, and RSL going up at halftime, am I the only one who thinks that something smells funny. A RSL win would move us to 34 points, that would be four clear of Chivas, and at least 3 clear of San Jose (who could draw even with RSL if they beat Houston tonight), and the gap between RSL and the Galaxy would have been 8 points with 6 matches left in the season. I am going to watch the Houston vs. San Jose match very closely, if the officiating goes in clear favor of Houston, then people will really have to wonder about what is going on.
The very sad part is that while RSL have left their fair share of points on the pitch, and failed to get some wins or draws that they should have, it could be the four points that clearly should have been in the RSL total that have been stolen by the officiating crews lead by Kevin Stott that could keep RSL out of the playoffs.
I am going to almost expect that Jason will speak his mind again, I expect that the league will react and Jason will get fined or suspended, and then when US Soccer does it review of the officials, they will determine that once again RSL was the victim of some horrible officiating. MLS needs to replace Kevin Stott, who simply is unable to do his job well enough to be considered a professional.
OFF MY SOAPBOX