VAR Crucial in Orlando win over St. Louis CITY

Shouts for a handball, but VAR will obviously take a look. Well, it is possible that it came off of his hand, and then it came off of his face. They're going to give him a penalty. Wow, he's going to point to the spot right now. Welcome to Instant Replay for MLS Match Day 28. I am Andrew Weavey, and as always, we're taking a closer look at the most controversial calls in Major League Soccer. We start at Red Bull Arena, where the eyes of the world were on Lionel Messi. But before Messi even got off the bench to help enter Miami to a 2-0 win, there was a big call for the Red Bulls in the 42nd minute. New York with a shooting opportunity on the top of the 18-yard box. David Ruiz, the homegrown player, is there to block, but what does he block the ball with? Alan Chapman, the referee, sees it, immediately says, yes, that's a PK, handball, and points to the spot. If you're anything like me, your brain is throwing up flags. Hey, hold on a second. That didn't look like an arm was extended. It wasn't in an unnatural position. And so, VAR Jeff Gamble is also watching, checking, and then recommending review to Chapman, who goes to the monitor and reverses his call. No PK. And as you watch these replays, it is clear that is the correct decision. This ball hits Ruiz in the upper arm near the shoulder, as that arm is tucked to the body. That is certainly a natural position. It may even be in the zone on the top of the arm, deemed by IFAB to be not a handball offense. You can see that right here in the diagram. Either way, well done to the referee crew on this call. Both the VAR Gamble and the referee, Alan Chapman, they got the correct decision, in my opinion. Two big video review calls in Orlando, St. Louis in town. Down a goal in the 81st minute. St. Louis is attacking, putting the pressure on, and Rasmus Alm scores right after he comes off the bench. Only the referee, Joe Dickerson, says, no goal here. Why would that be, you might ask yourself. Well, watch where the service comes from and where the ball is when the cross is played to Alm at the near post. The call on the field is that the ball goes out of bounds before the cross is played. Therefore, no goal. Unless you're one of the referees with a great view, it's hard to make the call yourself on live action. But Soren Stokke is watching all of the replays up in the VAR booth. He's the VAR on this one, and he recommends to Dickerson that this be looked at one more time at the monitor. There's a clear and obvious error. Dickerson does, and you can see right here what the key angle was. It was behind the goal, giving us a clear view that the ball has not crossed the line when the cross is played. Remember, the entire ball needs to cross the line. In this case, it's clear the ball doesn't cross, the cross is good, and the goal is good as well. Well done to the crew on that one. St. Louis fans, meanwhile, are saying, Hold on, what about this 88th minute call that basically won the game for Orlando? It was a penalty, and they scored winning 2-1. This one's for a handball. And as you watch these replays, you might be thinking, Huh, I don't see a handball here. It looks like the arm is tucked pretty close, if it even hits the arm. Maybe it hits the St. Louis player in the face. It was easy to think that until you see the replay all the way back from behind the opposite goal. That's where you can see the St. Louis player extend the arm up into that unnatural position, away from his body, extended, and clear contact, ball to arm. Well done to Soren Stoica for finding the correct angle to show Joe Dickerson. St. Louis fans might disagree on this one, but for me, it's a handball, and I think the crew got both calls right. To the nation's capital we go, Julian Carranza of the Union, bearing down on goal. And Tyler Miller, the goalkeeper, comes out to try to block the shot. He doesn't. Shot misses the goal, but Tyler Miller does not miss Carranza. That is a foul, Marcus de la Vera calls it, and he produces a yellow card, which for me is the correct decision. Now, Union fans might be saying, Hold on, why is this not denial and obvious goal-scoring opportunity? Carranza is in on goal by himself with an opportunity to shoot on an empty net, ultimately, and gets fouled in the process. Now, Union fans might be wondering, Hold on, Carranza is alone, shooting on an empty net and gets fouled. Why isn't this denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity? And as always, we must consider the four criteria, the four buckets. One, distance between the offense and the goal. Two, general direction of the play. Three, location and number of defenders. And four, and critical in this play, the likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball. Carranza has already shot before the foul occurs. He is not going to keep or gain control of this ball. That part of the play is already over. Therefore, it is not a dogs-to-a-fence, but I agree with de la Vera, yellow card-worthy foul on this play from Miller. I'm a little bit more split on this seventh-minute no-PK call from Ismael Elfath in Carson, California. The Galaxy hosting the Chicago Fire. Brian Gutierrez steaming into the box. He takes a shot. The rebound comes back. Gutierrez wins the race to the ball with Uri Rossell, and the two players come together, clear contact. Gutierrez goes down. Elfath doesn't call a penalty live on the field, but the VAR, Edwin Juracevic, flags him, says, Hey, go to the monitor. I see a clear and obvious error here. Elfath takes a look, and as is his right, he says, No, not for me. No PK will be given. I got to say, when I watched this one live, I immediately thought, Hey, that's a penalty kick. Rossell's movement takes him into Gutierrez, and that's a foul because Rossell does not get the ball. You can see here Gutierrez pokes it away just before Rossell can get there. But after watching this play repeatedly, I can understand why Elfath decided no PK here. This is a 50-50 ball. Both players are trying at the same time to get to it, and it's a bang-bang play. I don't think Rossell goes into Gutierrez as much as they both go into each other. It's their momentum, both players, in challenging for the 50-50 that brings them together. So while I understand why Elfath didn't go PK, it would be my opinion that if he called a PK on the field, Juracevic would never recommend review, and this would stand. Ultimately, it's a judgment call. Let us know what you think. I don't think this one is a judgment call. 27th minute, Gaston Jimenez already on a yellow card. What is he doing two-foot jump stomping Douglas Costa? This is for sure a second yellow card, which is what Elfath calls. But in my mind, this could easily be a straight red for serious foul play. This is excessive force in my opinion. It's endangering an opponent. Costa's lucky he pulls his foot out in time to not have flush contact from both feet as Jimenez again jumps in the air with two feet and stomps down. It's a non-soccer play. No matter the outcome, Jimenez has to be sent off, and he is. Justice in the end, in my opinion. Here's a layout for you out there. 89th minute, clear and obvious PK foul on the Chicago Fire. At first, it's like, oh, where's the contact? And then you see the angle from behind the goal. The fire defender just grabs the jersey, and when that happens, it's the smoking gun. You're always going to be called for a penalty. In Frisco, it took a while for us to get the smoking gun to see why Danny Pereira was sent off. He got two yellow cards. This is his second. Let's take a closer look at the 67th minute. Pereira loses the ball. He tries to recover, dives in on Jose Martinez, and you can't quite see how much contact there is or what that tackle really looked like because Rubio Vazquez plays advantage, so the play continues. Minutes later, we finally get a closer replay, and this is what we see. Pereira leaves his feet, dives in, is way late, doesn't get the ball, and gets the man. Vazquez gives him a second yellow and sends him off, and I agree with the call. That is reckless, folks. Just a bad decision by Pereira. And speaking of bad decisions, Evander made a terrible one in the 59th minute of the Cascadia Cup match between the Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps. I don't think I have to explain too much to you here. Rosendo Mendoza saw what you're all seeing. Evander is suckered into a bad tackle by Richie Lorea. Yeah, that's happened a time or two before. And fouls the Vancouver right back in the box. Penalty kick. And same goes for this Logan Ndimbe PK foul in the 90th minute of the Sporting Kansas City San Jose match. Jack Scan, the Quakes attacker, has clear position, and Ndimbe gets his foot tangled up and takes him down. That's a foul. Good thing he has Tim Melia to save the PK and preserve the shutout. All right, that's it for us. If you see something, say something. Remember, whether you're in the stands or at a game on the weekend with your kid, men's league, co-ed, whatever it is, respect the referees. Everybody is doing their absolute best. For my editor, Phil Levanco, and my producer, Rich Hernandez, I'm Andrew Wiebe. We'll see you next time.