Video study session (MLS Inside Video Review, 4/5/2023)
Video study session (MLS Inside Video Review, 4/5/2023)
A violent conduct sending off, offside in line of vision, a perfectly onside run and more.
Here are some quick takes about this week’s MLS Inside Video Review.
1. Onside, goal (0:19)
I like how quickly the CR reversed the call to on-side and gave the goal after watching the replay for ~10 seconds. Often you’ll see CRs stay at the video screen for a while to make sure they get the right call. While often this is necessary, you also don’t want it to lead you into analysis paralysis or over-analysis mode. The CR got good angles on the play, saw the player was clearly on-side and was extremely confident in making the call.
My take: As a referee, you never want to under-analyze a situation. But you don’t want to over-analyze it either. I usually feel like there’s a happy medium. But as you start refereeing more high level games, your confidence will grow and you should use that to your advantage in making big calls.
2. Trip, penalty (2:19)
I thought this was a good decision to go with a penalty. The video replay from behind the goal doesn’t give definitive evidence that the defender actually made contact with the attacker.
It’s this angle that spots the contact.
My take: I’ve gotten a lot of feedback for my own refereeing performances about prioritizing angle over distance. Let’s be clear; we’re watching a Pro referee who’s far more experienced than us so it’s safe to assume he knows what he’s doing! But based on what I’ve learned and what transpired in this play, it would have been helpful for him to be farther outside the play to get a better angle on what was happening in the box instead of seeing it from straight down the field. He’s not even in the frame when the foul happens!
The area below is where I’d expect the CR to be to get this call right the first time, especially at lower level games when you’re not quite as worried about the speed of a potential counter attack.
3. Offside, line of vision (4:10)
This is a great call because there’s so much happening in the build up to the goal!
Once they did the proper analysis of the play, it’s actually a very easy offside call to make.
First, the player in question is clearly in an offside position when the ball is stuck. That’s easy to see.
But does he commit an offside offense? Clearly he does because he moves his body to avoid the shot directly in the line of vision of the goalkeeper.
It’s an easy call once we see it on replay.
My take: While this is a straight-forward call for the VARs to make, it’s quite a hard one if you’re a CR or AR in a game without video replay which few of us will ever have access to in a game.
What’s most important in situations like this is for the CR and AR to work together.
As an AR, you have to be extremely vigilant when shots like this are taken to see which players are in an offside position. You’ll likely know which players were offside but will have a hard time seeing if they were actually in the goalkeeper’s line of vision.
As a CR, it’s your job to spot the player dodging the ball while the AR catches the offside.
Then when the goal is scored, the CR has to know the goalkeeper was screened and NOT signal for a goal by pointing to the center circle. Instead, they need to run over to their AR and have a private conversation to dissect the play, what they both saw, and make the correct call by pooling their data together.
Bonus: check out 4:25 to see a picture-perfect outside run by the CR. This is something I’m working on right now and it’s fantastic to see it happen live here. He’s moving at full tilt but angling his run to pull around outside to get a better angle on the play and put more of the eventual action between himself and his AR. 10/10!
4. Violent conduct, red card (6:38)
This is another fairly straight-forward call for violent conduct.
The defender goes in for the challenge very late, doesn’t try to play the ball, makes contact with the neck/head of the attacker with excessive force.
Here’s another angle of the same play.
My take: One important thing this teaches us grassroots referees is how important it is to keep your eyes on the player who has just passed the ball to see if anything late happens, especially in a game in which the temperature is starting to rise. If you as the CR had been ball watching, you might have missed this late hit and without VAR, you’re left in a bad spot and a game you potentially have to get back under control after a missed call.
5. Hip check, penalty (8:45)
This is another good call. The defender doesn’t make contact with the ball but clearly impedes the attacker by throwing off his center of gravity through a hip check.
You can see the contact in the screenshot below but it’s more clear in the video replay.
My take: My first instinct when seeing this in real time was that it was a dive. I don’t think I would have called this either as it really looks like the player tries to sell it.
The reason it looks so much like a dive is because the hip contact happens in a place that’s really difficult to see clearly for the CR. Sure, maybe from a wide angle you could catch this. But with no leg contact, this is a really hard call to make in my opinion.
If the defender had been shielding the ball, I could see the validity in the argument that the defender is allowed to do this when the ball is within playing distance. But it’s clear on replay that the defender is trying to clear the ball when he hip checks the attacker, which is a foul and a correct penalty call.
Know a soccer ref? Feel free to share this with them 💙