For Austin FC on Saturday night, playing against the San Jose Earthquakes, the match was shaping up like its previous home against Philadelphia — an early goal let in, followed by an equalizer just minutes later to recharge the home fans and bring life to the match.
But then video review stepped in, taking what looked like a highlight-reel Facundo Torres goal and erasing it off the board. The equalizer would come for Verde — but not until the final minute of second-half stoppage time, more than 90 minutes after Beau Leroux's shocking opening goal, to arrive at a 1-1 draw.
Jon Gallagher, characterizing the match as "two points dropped" rather than one point earned, reported from his vantage point on the field that he thought Torres' goal was legitimate. In the locker room, post-match, he pointedly questioned the handball call — for a ball that appeared to roll off the backside of Torres' upper arm incidentally – an arm as flush against his body as possible – en route to the athletic finish.
"I didn't even know what they were looking for," Gallagher said. "I mean, the fact that it gets called is crazy. I don't know what happened to clear and obvious ... the guys said that the ref came over and he said 'it was about millimeters.' So if we're talking about clear and obvious, then millimeters and clear and obvious don't really align with each other."
On the broadcast following the video review decision, Torres indicated to the referee where he believes the ball actually struck him; the commentators concurred that the reversal was unfair.
A clear and obvious aside
In a 2017 MLSSoccer.com explainer — on the video review process MLS pioneered in 2016 — a clear and obvious error is explained as:
a blatant, incorrect officiating decision. During a Video Review, the question asked by referees will be: "Was the referee’s original decision ‘clearly wrong?" as opposed to "Was the decision correct?"
Furthermore:
The International Football Association Board (The IFAB) has identified four incidents deemed to significantly influence the outcome of a match: goals, penalty kick decisions, straight red cards, and cases of mistaken identity. Under the IFAB’s protocol for Video Review, these four situations are the only events in which a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) can recommend a Video Review to the referee.
We have an ask out to the Professional Referee Organization (PRO) about whether "clear and obvious" standards have changed.
