Very weird goal set stage for Atlanta United loss to Necaxa
Credit: Mitch Martin/Atlanta United
Atlanta United lost to Necaxa 3-1 in the Leagues Cup on Wednesday.
A two-goal difference would seem to make moot how the first goal was scored, or the referee’s role in that goal. But the flow of the game, particularly after a goal scored in the 12th minute, can change everything about a match.
That is why the decision made by referee Marco Ortiz on Necaxa’s first goal was curious.
Recapping the goal: A shot was blocked in Atlanta United’s 18-yard box. Derrick Williams then lunged at the ball, sending it to a Necaxa player. That player received the ball and shot. Williams slid feet first at the player. The ball glanced off Williams’ arm and to a surprised Raúl Sánchez, who was offside but redirected the ball toward the goal. The ball hit the crossbar and then bounced off the head and left arm of a diving Brad Guzan and back into the goal.
The video assistant referee system checks every goal. The VAR check went up on the halo board. The presumption was for the offside call. Instead, it was for the handball against Williams, who admitted after the match the shot hit his hand.
After a check of several minutes, Ortiz signaled goal.
The problem is there was a handball that should have been called, Williams and Guzan said. The handball preceded the offside.
“It should have been a penalty, at least Brad has a chance of saving it,” Williams said.
VAR can’t decide if advantage can be played, so that shouldn’t have been an element to Ortiz’s decision.
“He said it was a handball,” Guzan said. “After the handball, he was offsides, but because he scored, he didn’t give the handball. That’s what I took from it. You would think if there’s a penalty they give the penalty. But he’s saying, because he scored, if he would have missed, he would have given the penalty.”
If there is a pool reporter system where journalists can ask the referee questions about in-game decisions, it wasn’t promoted by Leagues Cup.
Centerbacks. Though he spent time in his postmatch interview detailing substitutions and why his centerbacks either needed to be subbed or didn’t play well in the final 20 minutes, manager Ronny Deila didn’t want to blame Sporting Director Chris Henderson for putting him in a difficult situation.
Stian Gregersen and Williams started the match. Gregersen was playing his second match after missing the previous three months because of a quadriceps injury. Williams has also missed several matches because of an injury. Enea Mihaj, signed two weeks ago and not 90-minutes fit, came off the bench to replace Gregersen for the second consecutive match.
That was the trio of available centerbacks.
There were no others to start, or bring off the bench to replace Williams, who Deila said was fatigued at the end of the match, because the rest were either traded away for general allocation money (Efrain Morales and Noah Cobb), bought out of contract (Luis Abram), or don’t have their work visa (Juan Berrocal).
It’s likely Henderson needed to make the moves at the beginning of the window, which stays open until Aug. 21, to build the funds to make pending moves, such as the reported pursuit of midfielder Steven Alzate.
But it seems like a difficult way to try to win a tournament.
“We were conceding two, three goals every game (with them), so there’s no difference,” Deila said. “We have a transition period in that way, but we are building a team that is going to be winners, and right now we are between there.”
Guzan, who served as vice captain, said it’s not the players’ responsibility to worry what the front office is doing.
“We need to try and galvanize,” he said. “And we worry about the guys that are in the locker room, whether it’s new guys, whether it’s current guys, whether it’s guys going, we need to worry about who’s in that locker room, who’s going to be available for selection, who’s going to be fit enough to try and play 90 minutes.”
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