Sermanni seeks better calls
Portland hopes critique of refs doesn’t hurt
Orlando Pride coach Tom Sermanni has the Portland Thorns playing defense before the teams even take the pitch during the National Women’s Soccer League semifinal match Saturday.
Sermanni told the Orlando Sentinel and other media outlets he was concerned about the way referees would call the Pride’s road match against the Thorns, noting Portland committed 17 fouls and the Pride committed seven but each team ended up with just one yellow card during a recent 0-0 draw.
The Orlando coach also said he was concerned the ref could be influenced by Portland’s rowdy home crowd and hesitant to call as many fouls or hand out as many cards.
“I texted Tom. I said, ‘I see you Tommy Boy’ and sent him the emoji with the magnifying glass,” Portland coach Mark Parsons joked before defending his team.
He noted Portland felt strongly it was the victim of poor officiating during a home semifinal loss to the Western New York Flash last season.
“... I think the league and PRO [referees] always have a challenge of trying to raise the standard, just like us coaches and players try to raise the standard on the field,” Parsons said. “I think the level got better. It’s gotten faster, it’s gotten better this year and I think the challenge is always going to be there. Hopefully they are trying to do their best job in trying to continue to improve.
“... Let's hope the referee doesn't fall for the trap that's been opened for him. Unfortunately from the semi last year, we got a very bad taste. We just want to see a very even reffed game.”
Thorns defender Meghan Klingenberg was concerned officials would skew against Portland following Sermanni’s comments.
“We worked really hard all season to put ourselves in this position to play in front of our home crowd because we know we’re good here,” she said. “We play good soccer here, we work really hard, we have the fans behind us and so it's a really hard environment to play in.
“But I hope that comment doesn't influence the referees to overcompensate. I just hope that it's a fair match. That's all I ever want any time I play in a game. Obviously when you win [the right to host] a … playoff match, you should have some advantage.”
Sermanni joked he sent Parsons a bit-moji back before defending his decision to call attention to officiating, especially after seeing starting defender Camila suffer a torn ACL following a hard tackle that didn’t trigger a card last week at North Carolina.
“This is a huge game,” Sermanni said. “I've got the utmost respect for the referees and have, I think, for the most part have a very good relationship with them . ... Women's football has moved. It's a professional sport now. And with that, standards are raised and the stakes get higher. And I think what we've seen with that is the physicality of the league has increased. And so there's a delicate balance between being physical and committing fouls. And the way our team plays and the players that we have are often subjected to a significant number of fouls, whether they be deliberate or just reckless.
“... Then when you get into the environment on Saturday, there's a lot of pressure on everybody. And so it was just I think timely to a reminder about what's important. And the welfare and the safety of the players is of paramount importance.”