Atlanta United manager Gerardo Martino and some of his players weren't the only ones who thought a penalty was fortunate that resulted in Wednesday's 1-1 draw with New England.
Revs manager Brad Friedel also described it as such.
“The Dallas game, I felt the whistle should’ve blown,” he said. “And in the Vancouver game, I felt the whistle should’ve blown. Maybe this is the turn of a couple of decisions going our way as the next couple weeks come up. Now that we got the penalty, we got the draw, we have to look for three points against [New York] Red Bull.”
On the deciding play, Atlanta United midfielder Kevin Kratz appeared to brush the back of New England’s Krisztian Nemeth’s legs in the penalty box in the 88th minute. Referee Silviu Petrescu immediately called a penalty, despite Atlanta United’s players pleading with him.
“I think we deserved it,” Nemeth said. “I saw the (defender) have a mistake, (not) kick the ball out. So I have a chance to take the ball and he made a foul. I think it was a penalty.”
All penalties are reviewed by the Video Assistant Referee. The referees have the final say. Petrescu declined to look at the replay system to confirm if the call was correct. Teal Bunbury took the penalty and the tied the game at 1-1.
Petrescu was consistent in that he also didn’t look at a replay system when Atlanta United’s Mikey Ambrose was about to tap into a cross to give his team a 2-0 lead, only to be run over from behind in the penalty box earlier in the second half. Petrescu waived away calls for a foul.
“I don’t know how it was not a penalty,” Ambrose said. “The guy just bulldozed me over. I guess the ref just couldn’t see it.”
After ripping into the officiating crew for two controversial calls in a 3-1 loss to New York Red Bulls in their previous game, Atlanta United’s players weren’t quite as aggressive on Wednesday.
In his post-game comments to TV, Martino said he was happy with his team, but unhappy with other things. Later asked what those other things were, Martino said, “That if the penalty they called against us was very close, and the penalty not called on Mikey (Ambrose) was very close, but just not as close.”
Atlanta United’s Michael Parkhurst said he thought the penalty was a “bit soft.” After saying that he wasn’t surprised by anything anymore when Petrescu didn’t use the replay system, Parkhurst was asked if he was disappointed that Petrescu didn’t at least look at a replay.
“It’s up to his (the official’s) discretion,” he said. “If he thinks it’s a clear penalty – I hope when I look at it I agree. I hope it’s a clear penalty. If it’s a clear penalty, then he shouldn’t look at it. That’s all I have to say about it.”
Teammate Jeff Larentowicz said he wasn’t surprised that Petrescu didn’t make use of the replay system.
“Well, I mean that’s the job of the [Video Assistant Referee] – to look at it and to say whether they should both look at it,” he said. “So, someone’s looking at the replay. They called it, you know, we don’t need another week of that.”
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