New York City FC defeated by Red Bulls

The Hudson River Derby is a special game, an unpredictable match. The game played on Sunday did not disappoint the expectations.  In fact, the antagonist in the field was not specifically a player or a particular play by some players. The antagonist was the referee. The game was influenced in a in a negative way . New York City FC did not win the derby, but most of the blame, if not all, is for arbitrage. 

The first incident to be discussed was the penalty awarded to the Red Bulls. For goodness sake, the penalty could also be there, the intervention of Chanot was not the best and Alan Kelly did not hesitate to concede the penalty to the Red Bulls. What’s puzzling is that the referee did not even go to review  at the VAR. Alan Kelly did not want to hear any reason and despite the protests of the City he gave the penalty.

At that moment the Red Bulls equalized, but the best was yet to come. Yes, because Alan Kelly wants to be the antagonist and succeeded in the second half when he concedes a corner that shouldn’t have been for the Red Bulls, but this time with the complicity of his assistant. Callens clearly sends the ball for a throw, but the referee and his assistant invent the corner from which comes the second and decisive goal of the Bulls. The error was absurd and incredible, and the refereeing cost the City the derby and all those fans who have followed the team.

What we saw in the derby are things that have little to do with soccer. On the one hand a team that wins the game with the clear help of the referee, on the other a team that has been heavily penalized and in the midst of an arbitration that we hope will no longer be seen throughout the MLS.