If you’re an Austin FC fan, you’re not happy with Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to the Seattle Sounders. If you read my recap groggily filed just before midnight — it’s been a long week so far, y’all — you’ll know that Verde head coach Josh Wolff and the players aren’t happy with it either.
Judging from a review of social media, fans are upset with the Emiliano Rigoni header that should have been awarded a goal yet wasn’t. The ball was scooped out by Stefan Frei in midair, and from our vantage point in the press box (4th level, slightly angled off the north goal), it looks like all of the ball crossed all of the line.
I honestly thought, upon seeing a replay on the Apple TV broadcast, it would be counted upon an official review. I still think it should have. I’ll maintain this even despite the note I got from PRO after the match.
I’m seeing some confusion on this out in social media, with a few people maintaining there was no VAR oversight on the play, so before I delve into quotes from yesterday’s aftermath, let’s talk a bit.
My question was specifically, “Why was there no VAR check and why was play not stopped on the 56th-minute Rigoni shot that Stefan Frei appeared to paw out of the goal?”
Just so we’re all clear on the league’s rules for media getting explanations from referees, I submit the question in writing (in my role as pool reporter representing the whole media posse).
I’m given a deadline of five minutes after the match to submit my question to an Austin FC comms rep, who takes it to the PRO locker room. MLS rules require them to submit a response — provided the pool reporter’s name is displayed in the PRO locker room so they can check it against what’s submitted. I have a story to tell over a beer about how this aspect of the process got challenged earlier this year.
On Wednesday, I got a response almost right away — even before Wolff arrived for the press conference — which I then shared with the assembled media and in my post-match story. It read, “The play in question was checked by the VAR, who determined that it was not a clear and obvious error to not award goal.”
(Remember, VAR stands for video assistant referee: It’s a person, not a device.)
So, for those saying there was no VAR check, PRO’s refuting that. If you think it wasn’t a very good or satisfactory VAR check, or that it didn’t produce the totally obvious to everybody result, well, those are perfectly defensible positions to have. But the refs maintain that a VAR check happened and they didn’t see anything in it to change what was called (or, really, not called) on the field.
In my view, though, being mad about that is a better state to be in than being mad that a grown man wore a red shirt instead of his green shirt after a game of soccer on Saturday, so let’s start our roundup of quotes there.
