So let me get this right, you take the official who just a couple weeks ago falls for the worst dive in MLS this year, remember the one you did nothing about when Dwayne De Rosario did his swan dive, and you put him in charge of another match. So coming into this he had issued 7 red cards and 5 PK's in 12 matches, a rate that is so outrageous that it should raise well red flags with someone. So tonight in this match he not only blows a horrible call and issues not only a PK but a red card on a play that was neither, I mean honestly Collen Warner is laying on the ground where he was pushed down by a Vancouver Whitecaps player (not called) and the ball bounces and hits him in the chest and goes out of bounds. Now while I have learned to deal with some level of incompetence in MLS officials this was beyond me as I have no idea how the AR missed this one.
So again the first half of a match the MLS official wrongly destroyed almost all hope RSL could have at a result, something we have seen way more often than we should but again why would we expect anything but incompetence from the officials. So RSL goes in down 1-0 and down a man in the first half, but that isn't enough insult from Chris Penso, no he comes out in the second half and gifts Vancouver another call on one that is much closer than the first but still a very questionable call as Chris Schuler was hit by the ball in his arm on the edge of the area but Penso grants the Whitecaps another PK to make the match 2-0 and that leaves RSL crippled for the rest of the match.
Despite having their hand tied, being blindfolded RSL actually dominated possession in the match, and didn't play well but clearly weren't as bad as the final score showed. It is simply sad that I can now assume that almost every RSL match will end up with a horrible call or two going against them (far more against them than have gone their way this year). If I weren't a die hard fan of the team, I would be walking away from your league and the simple fact that you can't get it even close to right is the reason. I repeat my call for Instant Replay on all red cards, PK's and goals, you can read my original post on why it is needed here.