Brittany Campbell

Colorado vs LA Galaxy: Pool Reporter Questions of the Referee

Pool Reporter Questions (Matt Pollard, Josh Guesman): COL vs LA 

Transcribed from Audio:

REF: … it was serious foul play (talking about the red card to Pavon). But when I watched it on video, it was more of a reckless challenge. So the more appropriate outcome was yellow, not red. 

PR: Could you clarify specifically what you saw on the tackle where it was reckless but not endangering the safety?

REF: What happened on that play, with the pressure in the corner is he’s pushed off balance a little bit, so as he goes to swing to challenge the ball he kind of rises up and then the side of his foot contacts the shin of the Colorado player. I can understand from the assistant referees point of view, he sees the studs up, which is something that we look for. So I totally understand why he gave me that information. But when you see it on the video, it’s really fast, but you can stop it and see it’s the side of the foot not the studs straight on. That’s really the reason that we changed it. 

REF: The reasoning behind the penalty kick (to Shinyashiki) was a tripping (foul). That was kind of easy. 

On why it wasn’t a penalty for Rolf Feltscher: 

REF: Defender from Colorado is trying to clear the ball out. As he’s trying to clear the ball out the LA player comes in — this is the last bit of the game, right? 

Feltscher is trying to go in to score. The defender is trying to clear it. And he goes in, makes the header, misses, then afterward he contacts the leg of the defender who is trying to clear. 

So at that point in wouldn’t have been fair (to issues a penalty kick)

PR: Feltscher contacts the leg of the Colorado player?

REF: Yeah, it’s two players, playing a ball – you know – midsection high. So they’re both making a fair challenge for the ball. The LA player beats him to the ball. And so there’s some contact afterward. But it wouldn’t be fair to come back and give a penalty.