MLS referees are on course to break the single season record for total red cards handed out in a season. That’s a good thing.
The league has tried this year to change its culture of rough play to protect more technical players and improve the flow of the game, and league officials informed teams before the season that this would happen. Referees have handed out 25 red cards through a quarter of the season thus far, including two this past weekend. While the ejection rate has fallen off over the last month, that pace would still break the league record of 90.
Some have criticized this move, saying that fouls that would have not drawn bookings in past seasons have drawn them this year, leading to an inordinate amount of dismissals as players adjust to the new judgment of what is a foul or booking and what isn’t.
That adjustment period will pass, however. In fact, it probably already is.
Hopefully, what will stay will be a more open, dynamic and fluid game.
Precedent — the NBA
It’s a move akin to what the NBA did a few years ago to address evolutions in the game that had seriously hurt the product as a spectator sport.
During the league’s rise to international popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s, what drew people to the game was the dynamism and sheer athleticism on display. No sport proves as clear an analogue to soccer in terms of creativity, improvisation, and dynamic flow as basketball does.
At its best, the NBA featured the Los Angeles Lakers’ Showtime style of play, full of fast breaks, no-look passes and the charm and pure joy expressed by their lead showman, Magic Johnson. The Lakers-Celtics rivalry peaked during this period, with Larry Bird leading his team to greatness as the counterpoint to Magic. When Michael Jordan ascended to lead his Chicago Bulls to a dynasty, the league reached new heights. All along, you had lesser known but equally important and enjoyable-to-watch clubs like the Denver Nuggets and their great motion offense under Doug Moe, Rick Pitino’s brief remaking of the New York Knicks as an exciting pressing team, the ever-athletic Phoenix Suns, the Stockton-Malone age of the Utah Jazz, and of course, Hakeem “the Dream” Olajuwon redefining the big man’s game for the Houston Rockets.
Countering that, however, was a dangerous strain of play that was initially enjoyable as a contrast point but proved a major part of the league’s decline over the next 20 years. The Detroit Pistons, AKA the Bad Boys, showed that you could win championships with defense, hard fouls and dirty play, with a few great players but without the spectacular. It changed the league forever. The Knicks emulated that style of play under Pat Riley, and other teams began to follow suit. (True, the San Antonio Spurs won by playing a clean style of play, but mostly, it was the unparalleled twin towers pairing of David Robinson and Tim Duncan that took that team to the top.)
For about 15 years starting at the turn of the century, you had something akin to a new dark ages for the NBA, when its off-the-court lowlights overshadowed its athletic highlights. Yes, LeBron James showed up and proved to be one of the league’s best players ever, and stars like Duncan and Dwayne Wade helped carry the league, but scoring, the number of great squads, and the overall level of entertainment of the league dropped drastically.
Then the league made two key rules changes.
- The NBA changed the illegal defense rule to decrease the amount of lane-clogging by defenders.
- The league eliminated hand-checking for the 2004-2005 season, the common practice of defenders being allowed to guard players farther from the basket with a hand on their body at almost all times.
Though it took a while for the game to evolve, today we see a game drastically different from what it was 15 years ago. Scoring is up. Smaller, quicker and more technical players have been allowed to shine more than ever. Basketball has become less about brutish defense and the need for massive players close to the hoop and more about spectacular individual displays of athleticism and skill that, in some ways, are unparalleled in the history of the game.
Could you have seen the types of record-breaking performances that Stephon Curry has produced under the old way of officiating, where hand-checking and even body-checking were entirely too common? No.
Imagine if Allen Iverson had played now. You would be talking about him as the best ever. (I already consider him the best inch-for-inch player I ever saw, next to Jordan.)
The NBA is pulling back fans (like me) who it had lost because the game is being played the way its fans always loved the most.
The MLS version
Now port this over to soccer. Bring the same officiating philosophy, and you can free up athletic and creative players to make the games that much more entertaining and dynamic. There was a time not that long ago — we call it “last year” — when the strategy to stop top creative players was to just hack and slash them. Hopefully that’s over and we see no more plays like the leg-breaking tackle that effectively wrecked Steve Zakuani’s career or the annual assaults on David Ferreira and Javier Morales. (Not a great year to import Nigel de Jong though.)
Look at Joao Plata out in Salt Lake. The 5-3 jitterbug has been lights out this season, and his team is one of the league’s surprises as a result.
Go north to Toronto, where Sebastian Giovinco, aka the Atomic Ant, is the league’s most exciting player.
Maybe even Vincent Nogueira can stay injury-free the rest of the way for Philadelphia.
Some may say that this makes the game too soft or that it creates officiating inconsistencies with the world’s best leagues, which are all in Europe.
Don’t listen to them. Key rule changes or emphases have hugely improved the quality of product in professional sports leagues around the world. MLS need not follow Europe on this. There is also freedom to lead the way.
When we talk about the all-time greats of soccer, we don’t talk about the hatchet men defensive midfielders or the central defenders or the overly physical center back. We talk about Johann Cruyff and the Dutch artists, Pele and the beautiful game, Lionel Messi and his testing of the laws of physics. We talk about acts of athletic brilliance.
Just as it does with basketball, what the MLS’s philosophical change in officiating can do is make the game more entertaining and more beautiful.
Great article Dan! I hate when I hear people say that no one plays defense in the NBA anymore, when in actuality it was the league punishing defense to create more offense, and in turn a theoretically more enjoyable game to watch. The NFL is now following suit, trying to protect offensive players and create more scoring while punishing big hits and traditional defense. It’s worked, to a point, in terms of their overall objectives (safer, more offense), and I think it will make the MLS product better.
Don’t forget about the NHL going from the high scoring Oiler teams of 80’s to the Devil’s clutch and grab in the 90’s and onwards. The league instituted rule changes like eliminating the 2 line pass as well as trying to crack down on some of the holding that goes on. I haven’t checked the numbers but it is another example of a league trying to open up the game more.
Agreed. The NHL clamped down and it took a season or two for guys to get it. There were 6-7 power plays per team after the latest lockout with those rule changes. The game is better now. Scoring isn’t up a ton, but the game is more open for sure.
And most importantly, the Devils have stopped winning cups!
DAMN STRAIGHT!! 🙂
Strongly agree. In fact more technical leagues call fouls much softer- of course more technical play makes them clearer- how many fifty fifty balls do you see in La Liga?
I was thinking the same thing. This isn’t MLS going out on a limb. It’s them coming in line with most of the major leagues in Europe and South America. The Premier League and MLS are probably the minority when it comes to allowing overtly physical play.
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Now though, the debate will be if the physical play of the Premier League is one of the reasons why it is the most popular league.
IMO— I think the cross section of players is what makes the Premier League so inviting. Literally a melting pot of culture and ethnicity.
Yeah… wasn’t it like 15 years ago or so (could be a little longer) when no one really thought to go to England… now with the new TV deal starting next season, they are going to steal even more guys with spending even more money. Leicester gets $133 million for winning this year… next year’s champ gets $214 million. The lowest finisher next year will get about what Leicester got for winning it all this year. Think about that. Just getting and staying up is the new goal for A LOT of teams going forward. Not trying to win.
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Money ALWAYS talks.
I’d say it’s because they have the most money. Yes the top few teams are not in the Premier League, but they have 9 or 10 of the top 20. This allows the league to be competitive. Unless you like watching PSG have 30 more points than #2.
I would argue while it makes sense to change a game through officiating styles the problem with MLS officiating does not lie with how many red cards or fouls are given out. It is the inconsistency within games and between referees that causes the league to struggle. Many have said it before I mean there could’ve and probably should’ve been two red cards for the two legged behind the player tackle that I think Alashe made on a yellow and the one Godoy was given, but how is it justified that the one player gets sent off and the other not. (This seems very similar to Alberg’s tackle weeks ago). The problem is inconsistency I think and it just comes down to the referees not being experienced enough or trained well enough in my opinion.
Oh, no doubt. Good article on that here: https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/behind-the-scenes-of-mlss-efforts-to-improve-officiating.
Very insightful article, thanks for sharing
This is a really well thought out and argued piece Dan; excellent correlation.
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You have my respect.
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Hopefully as/if the game opens up – particularly for the ball player with glue on his foot or the ‘creator’ mite sized player – we can embrace them across the spectrum of the game at all levels, those who for whatever reason, due to their size have learned to play the game with cunning and deception… that and a bit more insight with players off the ball movement and just maybe there is hope for us.
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“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.”
― Emily Dickinson
I’ve always hated in soccer how much a red card will drastically affect the game. Could you imagine an indefinite power play in hockey, or 5 on 4 basketball. It sucks.
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This is going to sound ridiculous, but wouldn’t it be great if there was some intermediate…dare I say…ORANGE CARD? Obviously this would need to be FIFA and not just MLS doing another countdown clock situation.
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But how great would it be if a second yellow or a questionable DOGSO could result in an orange card where the offending player was sent off, but a sub could be brought on (if the team still had subs in place)?
I think the red card, last week is a great example, is not definitive to the result. You mention hockey and basketball but they happen on smaller arenas, with less than half the players.
If you mean that it drastically changes it in terms of the way it’s played, I guess that is true- if it’s a tie game when it happens or the red card recipient is up, but the tactic of parking the bus shows other places than 11v10.
The average red card occurs in the 60th minute and reduces the recipient team’s goal differential by 0.6 goals. We remember the rare times that the unexpected happens more vividly because it is unexpected (and typically happens to the Union), but statistically speaking, I would argue red cards are fairly definitive to the result. And I definitely agree that they drastically change the tactics of the game, often making it less enjoyable to watch in my opinion.
Unless you are the Union and a red card dealt to other team actually causes you to lose or draw more often than to go win…
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Couldn’t resist.
For awhile (and maybe still) I thought it would be in the opponents best interest to play a man down against the Union.
I believe there have been discussion (in FIFA / UEFA) about the idea of some sort of “orange card”… where a team is punished, but like hockey, the punishment expires. It would be wildly interesting to see a team go nuts and press for 5 minutes or something, to try and get a tying goal, while a guy was off an “orange card” penalty.
There has been, yes. I’m not sure how I feel about it as a rule change, but I like that people are thinking about it.
I have long thought your orange card (especially for 2 yellows) where the team could still sub would make a lot of sense.
I really like having discussions about things like this, although I’d probably have to say I’d like this particular rule to stay off the books. One of the things that has always kept me on my feet going into a tackle was the thought that if I screw up, my team goes down a man and I’ve let them down. The safety of my opponent doesnt enter into my decision making nearly as much. Taking that punishment away really allows middle of the road players to get aggressive, knowing they could still be subbed out later.
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That being said, there are probably ways around this qualm I have. I’d love to hear them.
I agree. Again with a hockey analogy: although fighting is down, with the instigator rule (if you initiate the fight, you are additionally penalized)… people can argue that guys have more leeway to be cheap shots, because retribution may not come. Same could apply here… retribution being the ejection red card. Guys could be way more liberal with their whacks.
Good counter point. Maybe add more suspension time for the player than too. like red card is automatic 3 game ban? I don’t know. I guess just getting the refs more consistent would be by far the best first step.
The Union should have the freedom to refuse Red Cards being given to opponents. MLS should have a special rule just for them to take a team vote on it.
Red cards against Union opponents create an unfair advantage……..for the opponent.
They know Philly can’t score or defend up a man. It’s a wonder more don’t try to get thrown out intentionally. MLS needs to step up and stop that sort of thing.
I can see it now, teams start to send in a sub to pull a Fred…find someone to slap and give your team the man down advantage
On the topic of rule changes, I heard this suggestion and want to see if anyone has some feedback. A player who commits an offense deemed worthy of a red card and an additional suspension beyond the mandatory one game, but IS NOT shown a red card by the official during the game in question, shall have their suspension applied for the next number of games PLUS the next game against the team for whom the call was missed.
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Recent Example: Nigel De Jong’s “tackle” on Nagbe. Should have been a red, MLS DISCO applies a 3 game suspension afterward. Instead of the missing LA’s next 3 games, he’d miss the next 2, plus whenever they play Portland next.
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I feel as though something like this could work, and would certainly help aggrieved fans and clubs cope with blatantly missed calls that swing the outcomes of games. Some potential problems I saw right away were East vs. West games that only happen once a year, whether this should include USOC and/or the playoffs, and whether or not this undermines the referee’s authority. Thoughts anyone?
Another downside, maybe… consider what the atmosphere will be like the next time the two teams play – how much the Timber Army will get all over Nigel de Hack, for example.
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Maybe not the greatest case to make the point, since the atmosphere in Portland is already so good. I guess my point really is: sports needs “bad guys” to have compelling stories. And like it or not, it’s often those stories that make the TV viewing interesting to the casual fans.
What would it look like in real time?
If a foul like that happened in the first and was missed, could the refs pull out a red card to start the second half? That would be wild.
I’m actually a fan of the old NBA. I like hand checking and I’m not a fan of the constant barrage of three-point shots in today’s game. (And I’m not 75, though that opinion probably sounds like I am). I think some contact should be allowed. I miss big men working the ball inside. I agree on one thing though, Allen Iverson would set a points per game record in the league today. He’d be un-guardable.
The NBA roles changes that truly changed the game were: the elimination of ” traveling “, ” palming the ball “,” carrying the ball ” ” face guarding ” and ” allowing zones “. collectively they were monumental changes and far more significant than a few
late tackles. that said – I am totally in favor of eliminating the rough and dishonest play in soccer but after watching much
meaningful European play, i don’t see how we can change it.
So what is the next “improvement” in the game folks would like to see brought on by a change of officiating? I’m not saying it works, but if you could, what would you try and change through officiating? There is no doubt in my mind that it would be diving. I think diving is absolutely the scourge of soccer here in the states. It is constantly the thing that folks bring up when bashing soccer. I’m thinking that post game review of questionable dives, with punishment doled out when a dive is proven, would do the trick. However, I think both player (via suspensions) and team (via fines) should be punished on a graduated scale (larger penalty each occurrence). That would stop players from going down, and teams from signing players who do. Thoughts?
Diving is not the problem… people who bash it, simply do not understand why it happens and what it’s purpose is.
Diving happening in every sport that has any contact – basketball, hockey, football, etc. Even boxers fake receiving illegal blows to catch their breath.
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I think soccer gets bashed the most because it has the least amount of direct physical contact during normal play and because the stigma of it being a “wuss sport” has not been broken.
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Funny thing is I played basketball, baseball, and soccer until I started college – I even played two year of football in middle school – and the worst injuries I ever received were from playing soccer. Broken thumb, torn ankle ligaments, and bruised ribs.
One major thing influencing rule changes nowadays worth mentioning is the advancement in medical science. The single biggest of course being a better understanding of the effects concussions and the development of CTE. But also, a better understanding of rehabbing injuries, managing fitness, and so on.
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Big real world example is US soccer eliminating heading for children 10 and under and and limiting the amount of heading in practice for children between the ages of 11 and 13.