Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis gets a price point for wondering aloud if Major League Soccer's officiating crews might have it in for his club.
WASHINGTON, DC (May 8, 2008) USSoccerPlayers -- As the Deseret Morning News column in question predicted when they quoted him, Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis got punished for being critical of officiating in the era of referee transparency.
In fairness to Major League Soccer, he was almost asking for a response well short of 'sorry, those calls really were garbage.' At the same time, both the League and the US Soccer Federation are publicly scrutinizing referees and admitting when a call goes the wrong way.
Rerunning the Kreis quotes aren't even worth it, because they're about as straightforward as you can get. Our club thinks we've been done by the officiating, please improve.
Far from us to suggest an obvious double standard, neither of which really benefit the officials involved. Some of us who remember the era in English soccer when the match officials decided they were the show, or at least deserved supporting cast billing. When the criticism warranted and unwarranted came, it was almost like they were surprised.
The US refereeing pool has never tried that particular trick, keeping their collective heads down right or wrong.
It's a safe assumption that Jason Kreis isn't grandstanding on this issue. He believes his club has been refereed out of several games and has the video evidence he feels proves the point. He also took that public.
MLS prices that at a thousand bucks and a one-game suspension. Not a weak statement considering, but also not the kind of thing to quiet the rest of the coaching pool should they encounter a similar scenario. The press release came sans punitive quote on behalf of the League.
