This past weekend's match between the Columbus Crew and the New England Revs was a rout. No question that the Revs had the energy and organization to take the match and move to the next level of the playoffs. That said, it was a sad moment when the Crew's Ethan Finlay raced in to get an attacking ball one-v-one with New England's stalwart Shuttleworth. Finlay clearly recognized he could not get to the ball and did his best to rotate away from Shuttleworth's courageous slide to win it. Despite that, there was contact as there often is in the game. Shuttleworth lay on the turf as if he'd been pole-axed. New England players swarmed Finlay who kept his cool and did not bite on the provocation. He made his best effort to see that Shuttleworth was okay.
Sadly, the center referee judged that Finlay was guilty of dangerous play and issued him a straight red. My guess is that serious review of the video will exonerate Finlay and give some pause to the capability of the official.
I'd say that one of the continuing questions about the quality of the MLS revolves around officiating---consistent, authoritative, clear-headed officiating.
This was a sorry excuse for officiating in a high stakes setting. Not so good.
