Marsch Calls Out Revs for ‘Shameful’ Goal
- Updated: April 2, 2016
Photo credit: Chris Aduama/aduamaphotography.com
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – In the mind of Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch, there’s an unwritten code that all soccer players are supposed to follow. And part of that code is to kick the ball out of play when an opposing player is down due to injury.
So when he saw center back Kemar Lawrence laying on the ground after feeling a pop in his knee, Marsch expected the Revolution, who were in possession, to hit the pause button on their advance. Instead, Juan Agudelo played through, found Diego Fagundez on the far post, where the Revolution midfielder tapped it past an incredulous Luis Robles.
“You know, it’s shameful for me,” Marsch said. “The game is supposed to have honor, and they can claim that they didn’t see (Lawrence), they can claim that they weren’t sure that he wasn’t hurt. It was clear as day that he was down on the ground and not just one player saw him, the whole team saw him, so that part for me is shameful.”
While Marsch was none too pleased about the way the Revolution continued to play as Lawrence laid on the ground, Red Bulls midfielder Dax McCarty said he wasn’t surprised by it.
“I feel like in the game these days sportsmanship is this novel concept that we love to talk about and think about,” McCarty told the media after the match. “But I don’t really think it exists anymore in the game these days.”
The veteran Red Bull midfielder pointed to the fact that the winless Revolution were especially eager to get that elusive for victory, and by any means necessary.
“We’re playing a desperate team at home that hasn’t won yet this season and they’re probably thinking let’s do whatever we can to get three points,” McCarty said. “So they decide to do anything they can to get three points.”
McCarty admitted that his teammates could’ve done more on the play, either by continuing to play through and try to defend, or by calling for referee Mark Geiger to stop the play.
“Maybe we can do more to let the ref know we have a guy down injured and put it in his hands,” McCarty said. “But then again what are we doing? It’s 2016. I guess we’re asking refs to be doctors in the moment on the field.”
Geiger commented on the incident via the local MLS pool reporter following the match.
“At the time, the injury did not appear serious,” Geiger said. “Therefore, play was allowed to continue.”
That explanation will do little to placate Marsch and the Red Bulls, who’ve now lost three of their first four matches.
“The referee had such a huge impact on this game by having a bad performance,” Marsch said. “For me, he can blow the whistle when a guy is down like that. He can give a red card to Bradley Wright-Phillips when he is on a breakaway and he gets pushed and shoved from behind that prevents him from getting a clear shot. Could be a red card penalty. How does that affect the game? I’ll stop talking about that right now. I wanted to get that out. I want to make a point of that.”
McCarty, for his part, admitted he could see both sides of the coin on the controversial goal.
“It’s a touchy subject,” McCarty said. “I can’t sit here and say that I’m surprised about the way they went about the game and that moment. That’s what desperate teams do, but obviously, this is a contentious subject in the sport these days and, unfortunately, there wasn’t very much in the game.”
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