After seeing a litany of calls go against his Red Bulls, including a red card against Thierry Henry in the waning moments of last night’s 3-3 tie at Portland that was questionable at best, GM Erik Soler apparently had enough.
Soler, the Red Bulls’ Norwegian general manager and Sporting Director, released a statement that was a scathing attack of the referees, one sure to draw a fine.
“We have carefully reviewed the film of our match against Portland last night and I can safely say that the level of refereeing was absolutely below the standards of what is required for a MLS match and completely unacceptable,’’ Soler said in the written statement. “First, the red card given to Thierry Henry was inexplicable.
“There was no violent conduct on his part whatsoever and this decision was made by a linesman who was more than half a field away. Second, in any soccer game, there is no way that one team can draw 20 more fouls than the other team, especially in a match where one team drew just five fouls. I have never seen this occur in my 30 years in the game.
“We are aware that U.S. Soccer and MLS are working hard to improve the officiating in this country and we support those efforts wholeheartedly. However, if we want to continue increasing the level of play, we cannot let these types of refereeing performances occur. We look forward to speaking with the League to appeal Thierry’s automatic red card suspension and expect that it will be rescinded so that he is available for our match Thursday in Seattle.”
In the dying moments of a game in which the Red Bulls were whistled for 25 fouls and the Timbers only five, and conceded a penalty kick for the fifth time in six contests, Henry was shown a straight red for an off-the-ball “confrontation” with Adam Moffat. He essentially tapped Moffat on the back of the head, and Moffat pushed him back.
No card was initially given, until the linesman 50 yards away made the decision.
A poll on MLSsoccer.com asked readers if they thought a red card was warranted, and at 7 p.m. tonight roughly 86% said a red was NOT warranted.
Watch for yourself.
What do you think? Was it warranted? How big will Soler’s fine be? And will it be worth it?
