Thievery. Robbery. A mugging.
The crime rate is high in
Morelia, and that doesn’t stop from extending onto the soccer fields there.
Estadio Morelos was site of one
of the biggest non-violent crimes in Morelia’s recent history. On Tuesday, the
Galaxy had a goal and a victory stolen from them.
With the match tied 1-1 in the 90th
minute, Omar Gonzalez smashed a header on goal. Morelia’s Federico Vilar made
the save but the ball remained on the goal line. Robbie Keane raced onto it,
pushed it into the back of the net and appeared to have given the Galaxy the
victory.
But somehow the goal did not
stand. Honduran assistant referee Oscar Velasquez raised his flag just as Keane
raced away from the goal to celebrate.
Absolute thievery. Total robbery.
An atrocious mugging.
Moments later, Miguel Sabah
scored the game-winner and the Galaxy walked away empty handed.
The replays show clearly that
Keane was at least a yard onside when Gonzalez made contact. Keane passed the
last defender sometime after the ball past him. When the ball fell on top of
the goal line, Keane was already there.
But that’s because he’s quick and
has great instincts, not because he was offside. Perhaps that’s the biggest
problem. Velasquez referees the Honduran league, which is not a highly-regarded
league in CONCACAF. Mexico is, of course. MLS is getting there. MLS does have
top talents such as Keane and perhaps Velasquez is unable to decipher between
what a talented goalscorer and what a player who is poaching offside looks
like.
Whatever the case is, the Galaxy
lost a game they should have won. Stolen from them. Taken right away from them.
It’s a shame really, not just
that it happened to the Galaxy but that this happens all the time in this
tournament. It’s almost like it’s a requirement to have things like this happen
in the CONCACAF Champions League.
It seems that no matter what
Champions League game you watch, you almost expect something bad to happen. You
expect the game to go to hell in a matter of minutes. Bad calls are as much a
part of the game as set pieces. So when the flag was raised and Keane’s goal
was harshly called back, it really wasn’t a surprise to anybody.
Anger? Sure, but nobody was
surprised.
And that’s the real shame.
Unfortunately you are right. Just about every time I watch a CONCACAF champions league game in Mexico or Central America I always see at least one horrendous call that goes against the MLS team.
ReplyDeleteChristopher Sullivan on the call for FSC said "Keane was clearly offsides" they showed 1 replay of the play that was pretty conclusive that he was onside. Terrible work from FSC on the biggest play of the game.
ReplyDeletedcboy60 has it right. The only way around this is for MLS teams to score so many goals they can't have the game stolen from them, but that's easier said than done.
ReplyDeleteas the famous/infamous (depending on your point of view) right-wing political commentator Ann Coulter once said: "If it isn't close, they can't cheat"!
ReplyDeleteSure applies with CONCACAF refs south of the border, doesn't it? :)