It’s been a season of tough breaks for New York City FC. Add to the long list of grievances a non-call in Saturday’s Hudson River Derby by referee Joe Dickerson – and a non-VAR check from longtime New York City hater Drew Fischer – that could have delivered a win to a team desperate to sneak into the playoffs. Instead, play was waved on in what we now see to be a NYCFC blown penalty call.
But don’t take our word for it. The review of the play comes courtesy of Andrew Wiebe, an MLS pundit who is a regular on Apple TV. Wiebe is something like the Eliot Ness of poor officiating, and his Instant Replay is must-watch-YouTube for league fanatics.
This week, he breaks down a run of play that has NYCFC midfielder Santiago Rodríguez taking a tumble in the box after a challenge from Red Bulls defender Kyle Duncan. What at first looks like some clean although physical contact is clearly a penalty when viewed from the reverse angle.
Here’s Wiebe with the play:
The verdict is short and sweet. “The Red Bulls defender lunges out, extends the leg, and that is what creates the contact,” Wiebe says. “For me, that is a penalty.”
Spilled milk, or learning from history?
Is this just crying over split milk? Waaaa, NYCFC should have had a penalty! What’s done is done: The 0-0 draw was official after the final whistle, and no kvetching will change the result.
But there’s something to be said for cataloging these mistakes and holding the league responsible.
Just last week, we documented that NYCFC were awarded just one penalty all year, the second-lowest number in MLS and the lowest in club history. Plenty of factors contribute to that small figure: This New York City aren’t as attack-minded as past teams, and the players are easily handled by more physical sides.
Still, a blown call like this one doesn’t help.
NYCFC PKs by season
Year | PKs Awarded | PKs Converted | MLS Rank |
2023 | 1 | 1 | #23 (tied) |
2022 | 9 | 7 | #5 (tied) |
2021 | 5 | 4 | #8 (tied) |
2020 | 3 | 3 | #7 (tied) |
2019 | 9 | 5 | #3 (tied) |
2018 | 4 | 3 | #20 (tied) |
2017 | 6 | 4 | #8 (tied) |
2016 | 7 | 6 | #5 (tied) |
2015 | 9 | 8 | #2 |
NYCFC lead MLS in blown calls
Back in June, we ran a post covering the makes officials make when New York City is on the field. After tabulating the press releases issued by the MLS Disciplinary Committee, we found at the time that NYCFC were the victims of more blown calls than any team in MLS.
It wasn’t even close. Out of the 15 major decisions made by the MLS Disciplinary Committee up to then, four were in favor of NYCFC.
To be clear, these were merely the most extreme mistakes made by officiating crews. It doesn’t include calls that land inside the grey zone. For the MLS Disciplinary Committee to overturn a decision it must be “unanimous,” and the error must be “clear and unequivocal.”
Was the NYCFC blown penalty call from Saturday clear and unequivocal? That’s up to the MLS Disciplinary Committee, but you, me, Wiebe, and anybody else who watched that clip above know that Dickerson and Fischer made a mistake.
Once again, NYCFC paid the price.
A season of thin margins
In this season of thin margins, when NYCFC have 13 draws and five of the team’s 10 losses were by just one goal, these blown calls could be the difference between making and missing the playoffs. A couple of draws become wins, a couple of losses become draws, and New York City have 37 points and sit in eighth place above CF Montréal.
Of course the same could be said of more ruthless attack that finish their chances, or a more focused defense that lock down close games.
That’s all water under the bridge. Instead, we look ahead to tomorrow’s game against Orlando City and Saturday’s match against Toronto FC, and hope that the officials calling those games will be extra-vigilant to play it straight, keep it fair, and not blow any more calls.
