The NWSL must have said, 'we need a moron, who makes idiotic calls to be the ref in the semifinals' and with that in mind, they called Danielle Chesky.
There are only two NWSL games today. Two is not very many, compared to regular-season weekends. Just two games.
Showing up to the game—a semifinal, mind you, an elimination match—to see that Danielle Chesky is officiating feels like losing a game of Russian roulette.
I bet Chesky heard I was going to bed for the 2nd half because I was ready to drop dead from exhaustion and said "oh yes, I am gonna be SUCH a shit ref and lose COMPLETE control of this game"
In a dramatic reenactment of the classic Thorns v Royals Royal Rumble match, 3 fucking red cards were handed out. One to Charley who apparently did deserve to be carded and wasn't involved in the subsequent kerfuffle. 1 to Kristen Edmonds for throwing hands and 1 to Morgan Weaver for this action.
NOW I KNOW PEOPLE ARE SAYING THEY'RE BOTH TO BLAME, AND I GET IT, BUT MOST OF THIS ISN'T NEW IN SOCCER.
Did Edmonds pull Weaver down? yes. But Weaver also had her arm around Edmonds when they fell, so that was 50-50, as a ref I wouldn't give a card there bc they both got up just fine. Does the fall affect possession of the ball? No, the ball is cleared and there's no clear game advantage being lost so, no cards.
Did Weaver fully LOOK at Edmonds getting up and rough housed her to get her to slow down? Absolutely, and Edmonds is pretty innocent there because she was running, not looking at Weaver, and hit Weaver in the chest, shoulder first, because Weaver ran INTO her. But again, no cards if this was the end of it because if the last thing didn't deserve a card neither does this, it's pretty usual soccer stuff to try to slow someone down when they're running. It also has nothing to do with game play. No ball is near, possession isn't being fought over. Keep it moving. They could've kept running after the shoves.
NOW WHERE WE GET INTO CARD TERRITORY. Shoving? Fine. Pushing? Fine. Pulling eachother down like idiots? Fine. THROWING HANDS AT YOUR OPPONENT'S FACE? NOT FINE
Boy, sis straight up shoved Weaver's face into next Sunday. THAT is something you give a card for. And she's instigating more of a fight. Edmonds had to MAKE THE CHOICE to tippy toe to reach Weaver's face. That deserves a red card. Does Weaver deserve a yellow for the shove? yes, because that kicked off the rage I guess. NOW A REF DOESNT HAVE THIS TO REWATCH, THEY HAVE WHAT THEY'VE SEEN HAPPEN, AND THATS WHY BOTH PLAYERS GET KICKED OUT OF THE GAME!
And its a valid choice, when you put all the roughhousing together its only fair that BOTH players get kicked out, because they're disrupting the game.
YOU KNOW WHO ABSOLUTELY DESERVES TO GET A RED CARD? Chesky. This is happening in extra time—this is the product of shitty reffing. A good ref will either talk to the players when giving out warnings DURING THE 90MIN OF THE GAME and tell the players if they don't slow it down they're gonna get kicked out, or talk to the coaches and warn them that a player is cruising for a card. Good refs DONT put their whistle in their mouth and whistle 50 times at a player when they do something. A good ref TALKS to a fucking player when they're clearly getting heated, a good ref TALKS to a player when they get a warning. And a good ref Chesky is not.
The thorns have grounds for appealing this, if the card is being given out over the fight Weaver clearly didn't fight back. Did she shove Edmonds? yes. Did they BOTH shove eachother to the ground? yes. But Weaver didn't fight back and with some retrospect I could see why a committee could take the card back. Edmonds however deserves a few games suspension, not just the one game for the red card. She made a choice to THROW HANDS AT WEAVER'S FACE and that is not part of the game—players should be better than that, this isn't a playground or a high school, it's a whole professional league and to put hands on a coworker like THAT is not acceptable. That was beyond the game.
“The USA could have gone into halftime with an even larger lead, but beautifully crafted goal by Press was disallowed due to an inadvertent whistle from the referee Danielle Chesky.”
Vlatko Andonovski: “First, it wasn’t a goal, because the referee —by her explanation— blew the whistle by accident. That was the explanation that was given to us. I cannot believe it happened, because I thought that was the most beautiful goal that we scored as a team. It was a perfect display of what we were trying to do, what we’ve been working towards, and how we want this team to look going forward. Unfortunately, it was taken away from us, but in my books that was a goal for this team and a goal for Christen Press.