Davis: Better ref-player relations wanted
And it goes well beyond what happens on game days.
That's why Joe Machnik, who oversees league refereeing, is maneuvering to get referees together with players and managers more often during the preseason. The theory goes like this: forging better relationships will improve understanding and communication between the parties, which can only improve matches.
For instance, one of the recently appointed U.S. Soccer full-time referees will attend next year's preseason managerial meetings, where routine matters of disciplinary committees and other issues are discussed, Machnik said Friday.
The league once arranged more of these get-togethers. But it was easier when teams trained regularly at a central location (usually in Florida). There, referees would officiate preseason friendlies, then exploit the opportunity to mingle informally with players afterward, or eat breakfast or even work out with them the next day.
But the centralized training has been eliminated for now. And with most MLS referees holding full-time jobs, ferrying them to far-reaching training sites was prohibitive.
"It's something that's been missing," said Machnik, who is officially an assistant to the deputy commissioner for on-field competition for MLS. "It's just that we couldn't always gather the officials, we couldn't always get guys there."
Machnik, working with U.S. Soccer director of referees Esse Baharmast, hopes to create even more of these mixing opportunities. Clubs around the league are working on agreements to train next year at The Home Depot Center, at Pizza Hut Park and at the IMG Academy in Florida during the preseason. Those are all potential opportunities for Machnik and Baharmast to put the parties together.
"When we did it before, it got tremendous backing from the players and coaches," Machnik said.
MORE PLAYER VOICES: Machnik also said Friday that player representation will increase on the MLS working group on officiating, a committee that also includes managers and GMs.
Last year, Chris Armas and Landon Donovan represented the players on the group, which is a sub-committee working under the year-old MLS Technical Committee.
It is scheduled to meet during the MLS Cup weekend in Washington, D.C. And when it does, Machnik has asked the MLS Players' Union to double the athlete representation. (The MLSPU picks the players for this committee.) Machnik has asked that two of the representatives be players from the United States and two be internationals.
He wants to ensure voices are heard from the influx of new, influential international players.
THE 300 CLUB: Galaxy midfielder Cobi Jones will join the elite MLS "300 Club," assuming nothing goes wrong before he takes the field, Sunday against FC Dallas.
Jones, who has been in a Galaxy uniform since MLS Day 1, has appeared in 299 games for the SoCal club. He has 70 goals and 89 assists in that time. That puts Jones tied for fifth in all-time assists and needing one goal to join the top 10 in goals.
Jones, set to retire after this season, will join Steve Ralston, Chris Henderson and Jason Kreis as the only MLS players with 300 league appearances. Ralston leads the group with 332 -- and counting.
LAGERWAY IN CHARGE: TV and radio broadcasters don't just show up and start talking. The good ones don't, anyway.
So new Real Salt Lake general manager Garth Lagerway feels pretty well versed on league personnel matters. Lagerway was an attorney in D.C., but moonlighted as United's analyst for TV broadcasts.
So not only did he feel compelled to know the ins and outs of rosters around MLS, he also did all the extra homework. That is, he had candid, sometimes off the record, conversations with players, coaches and general managers. From those talks, Lagerway says he absorbed a healthy knowledge of the existing player pool.
And his day job as an attorney at Latham & Watkins always helped him gain a good understanding of the MLS single-entity concept. Plus, don't forget, he served under six different coaches during a four-year playing career that ended in 2000.
QUESTIONS ABOUT "QUESTIONABLE": Players are increasingly coming up missing on match day this year, with little notice that they were injured at all. Recently, Red Bulls defender Carlos Mendes didn't play last week against Chicago, apparently ailing, although he never appeared on the club's injury report.
For the record, the league does require teams to report injuries twice a week. Further, MLS does have standardized criteria for players who are "out," "doubtful", "questionable", or "probable".
TALKING SUBS: Nobody will question whether a fresh Bakary Soumare has more in his legs than a tired Cuauhtemoc Blanco. Soumary, an emerging rookie midfielder, is about 12 years younger than his Chicago Fire teammate.
What does make for lively debate, however, is the value of late-game tactical subs. Better to introduce the hard-working defensive legs or keep the veteran wile on the pitch?
Soumare entered Thursday's match against FC Dallas in the 83rd minute. Fire boss Juan Carlos Osorio had clearly gone defensive much earlier. (Actually, on the road under Osorio, the teams deploys quite defensively from the opening whistle.)
FC Dallas pressed and managed to find the 93rd minute equalizer. With Chicago clinging so desperately to that final playoff spot, who knows if the two points stripped away by Carlos Ruiz's late goal will figure massively in the final accounting?
Would Blanco's presence have helped? The Fire definitely had trouble keeping possession late as Dallas attacked in waves.
Go back about a month. Columbus held ever so tenuously to 1-0 lead at Houston. Crew manager Sigi Schmid removed offensive linchpin Guillermo Barros Schelotto, one of the Crew's best at holding possession, off in favor of the younger Danny Szetela.
Dynamo nailed the equalizer three minutes later.
PAYING UP FOR THE YELLOWS: It's the time of year where yellow card suspensions are not only adding up, but they are affecting the playoff races. Chicago travels to D.C. United this week, always a tough trip. On the other hand, the Fire won't have to deal with Fred, Christian Gomez and Ben Olsen, who are all suspended for an accumulation of cautions. Dallas won't have center back Clarence Goodson, who is having his best season, on Sunday in Los Angeles. Neither will Chivas USA have glue-guy Jesse Marsch to hold down the midfield when Kansas City visits.
Now check out a partial list of players who will sit out following their next yellow card: Jeff Larentowicz, Shalrie Joseph, Andrew Boyens, Tyrone Marshall, Jimmy Conrad, Jack Jewsbury, Eddie Johnson, Juan Toja, Carlos Ruiz, Dasan Robinson, Gonzalo Segares, Diego Gutierrez, Joseph Ngwenya and Ryan Cochrane.
LATE STRIKES NOTHING NEW IN TEXAS: FC Dallas just barely squeezed out a point Thursday against Chicago, manufacturing a 93rd minute equalizer. That was the fourth time this season Dallas has earned points with stoppage time goals. They also did so in April against Real Salt Lake as Carlos Ruiz struck late to pull even. Dominic Oduro's 93rd minute effort nipped RSL by a 1-0 score in June. And Clarence Goodson's 92nd-minute goal earned all three points for his club last month against Columbus.
