Berhalter, players preparing for video replay
The 2017 Confederations Cup’s use of video assistant referee serves as another reminder that video review is not far from becoming a reality in Major League Soccer.
MLS in February set a timeline for the system’s implementation, hiring former FIFA referee Howard Webb to head the program. After conducting in-game video replay testing in most preseason games and offline testing in select regular-season games — Crew SC has experienced it twice, once each in Toronto and Columbus — the league hopes to implement video review after the All-Star Game in August.
Crew SC’s main exposure to the system came in the preseason Carolina Challenge Cup, in which a foul by Lalas Abubakar near the edge of the box was reviewed to confirm the play didn’t merit a penalty kick for the Charleston Battery. Coach Gregg Berhalter called the in-game review process “cumbersome” the next day, but added “I think they’ll figure it out.”
A common criticism of video assistant referee is that it will disrupt the flow of a continuous game. With implementation ahead, Crew midfielder Wil Trapp said reaching the correct call is more important than achieving steady game flow.
“The disruption of the game can be annoying, but I also think there’s a lot more at stake,” Trapp said. “We’ve been on both sides of it, I would say, but we’ve definitely been on the losing side of some calls that if VAR was there, it may not have gone the way it did.”
Goalkeeper Zack Steffen added, “There are pros and cons to it. I’m sure it’s going to help us and I’m sure it’s going to hurt us, too.”
The system is designed to reduce clear errors in plays involving goals, penalty decisions, red card incidents and instances of mistaken identity.
“It shows that it’s a progressive league, that we want to be on the forefront of technology, and I think it’s a big step for Major League Soccer,” Berhalter said.
Tweet delete
Midfielder Dilly Duka was acquired by Crew SC last June to help fill a hole left by an injured Federico Higuain.
The 27-year-old made five starts and 15 appearances in 2016, but his minutes have dried up in 2017. Duka’s only game experience came in the final 15 minutes of its 1-0 loss to FC Cincinnati earlier this month.
On Monday, however, Duka sent a tweet of a spreadsheet including Crew SC’s intrasquad scrimmage statistics. The numbers indicate that Duka is tied for the third-highest win percentage among Crew players in practice games this season.
Asked Tuesday about the since-deleted tweet, Berhalter said it had been “dealt with.”
“We’ve talked to Dilly about it. What I’d say is there’s a huge trust built inside the locker room and you don’t want to violate that trust,” Berhalter said. “That’s all I’ll say on that matter.”
When Berhalter’s comments were made public Tuesday afternoon, Duka posted a separate tweet that read: “Trust goes both ways.”
In a text message to The Dispatch on Tuesday night, Duka explained that he meant the original tweet as “competitive locker room talk” in the vein of players posting pictures of winning six-a-side teams. He said he spoke with Berhalter early Tuesday morning about why he sent out the tweet and felt “everything was kosher.”
Duka returned home from training Tuesday and was surprised to receive a text from a teammate showing him Berhalter’s comment.
“He completely twisted any truth of the meaning of the tweet and said nothing about the conversation we had,” Duka said. “Clearly it’s not a good situation.”