Controversial decisions mark Orlando vs Red Bulls match
In one of the strangest refereeing performances you’re ever likely to see, it was 35 year old match official Fotis Bazakos (pictured above) from Minnesota, who stole all the headlines at the Orlando Citrus Bowl tonight as New York Red Bulls beat Orlando City 2-0.
The man who made his professional debut in May 2012, refereeing the match between FC Dallas and Seattle Sounders, and who has now covered 42 Major League Soccer games made many strange and weird calls during 90 minutes of entertaining action as Orlando and N.Y. Red Bulls hammered away at each other.
The Red Bulls started the game strongly and they took the lead with a superb strike from Sacha Klejstan who curled his shot from 25 yards into the top right hand corner in the 21st minute. Orlando battled back and caused some problems of their own and just when it looked like they might grab an equalizing goal, Bazakos interfered by sending off Canadian National team striker Cyle Larin in the 33rd minute for an innocuous challenge on Klejstan near the halfway line. It was simply an absurd decision that was undoubtedly influenced by 4th official Ted Unkel, as Larin did nothing more than challenge for a loose ball while Klejstan jumped in with two feet and then made a complete meal of falling over Larin’s outstretched thigh.
The game, which to that point had been very entertaining, was dramatically changed. It was the third straight game that Orlando has had a man sent off with Kaká and Luke Boden being the previous victims of poor refereeing decisions. Quite understandably a frustrated Lions Head Coach Adrian Heath (pictured above), who himself received a red card in the 74th minute, commented after the game, “You can’t say that Cyle Larin went in with malicious intent to hurt somebody. There is a big difference. The player’s know when people are trying to hurt them.”
Just a couple of minutes later, Bazakos was then at the center of attention again as he laughably gave New York a free kick for an alleged foul by Darwin Ceren on Felipe Martins approximately 10 yards outside the penalty box. Bazakos then bettered his original mistake by disallowing what looked like a perfectly good Red Bulls headed goal by Damien Perrinelle from the resulting free kick.
Orlando went into the half time break trailing by the single goal but they emerged in positive fashion and you couldn’t really tell that they were down to ten men such was the effort they put in. Despite all the possession they had, they didn’t have enough quality and penetration on the final ball and lady luck deserted them on the odd occasion the ball pinged around the penalty box.
You sensed it wasnt to be Orlando’s night and the killer goal came in the 91st minute as New York made a fast break and Mike Grella (pictured above) fired home from the right hand side to seal the win for the visitors.
“I don’t really want to say much about the officials, because if I say something, you get fined, and get in trouble,” said Heath. “If I don’t, nothing changes. I believe the referee has made some wrong decisions this evening for both teams. I don’t know what we do, because I can’t say anything. I am fed up in coming in here talking about the refs, it’s not about them. Thirty thousand people come to watch footballers. I thought it was going to be a really great game of football, I really did, because we started really well, they scored a great goal, they are a really great team, and they are really well coached. And here we are talking about people that really don’t matter. They should be seen and not heard…that’s what I was told. It seems like it’s every week, someone is blaming the officials for the outcome of games.”
Lineups/Substitutions:
Orlando City SC – GK Tally Hall, D Corey Ashe (Pedro Ribeiro 88’), Sean St. Ledger, Aurelien Collin, Rafael Ramos, M Cristian Higuita, Darwin Ceren, Lewis Neal (Bryan Rochez 77’), Carlos Rivas, Kaka, F Cyle Larin
New York Red Bulls – GK Luis Robles, D Connor Lade, Matt Miazga, Damien Perrinelle, Anthony Wallace, M Lloyd Sam (Anatole Abang 57’), Sacha Klejstan (Karl Ouimette 80’), Dax McCarty, Felipe Martins, F Mike Grella, Bradley Wright-Phillips (Sal Zizzo 69’)
Substitutes not used:
ORL: Earl Edwards, Seb Hines, Amobi Okugo, Tyler Turner, Eric Avila
NY: Kyle Reynish, Shawn McLaws, Manolo Sanchez
More photos at www.FloridaLeisurePhotography.com
