Every fan hates to have to make excuses for their team. Every fan hates to blame their teams loss on somebody else. However, after the Charleston Battery beat the Atlanta Silverbacks 2-0 at Dekalb Memorial Stadium last Saturday I was left with no choice. The referees cost the Silverbacks any chance of winning the game.
It was a warm Saturday night and the crowd of over 6,000 was the biggest since opening day for Atlanta. The Silverbacks delighted the crowd with an early chance, in the 4th minute, Brian Piesner sprinted down the left touchline and dribbled into the 18' and found an open Iggy Moleka in the box. Moleka took a touch and nailed the ball towards the corner, where Charleston Keeper Dusty Huddock made an amazing diving save to push the ball wide. The first half wore on and Atlanta continued to expose a Charleston Battery defense that did not look ready to play. If not for Huddock the Silverbacks would have scored perhaps 2 early goals. Then, the game took a drastic turn when around 20 minutes in, Iggy Moleka's header shot by a diving Huddock, deflected off the goalpost, and came back towards him, he headed the ball into an empty net with ease and it was 1-0. The large crowd went wild. However, then, the goal was waived off in what might be the most disgraceful call all season in the A-League. Dekalb Memorial Stadium is a field made for soccer and not football. The referees ruled that the ball had deflected off the football upright above the goal and come back into play (more on the call later)!!!! The score was still 0-0. The Silverbacks rushed the referee who had made the call with Forward Josh Henderson screaming hysterically and Midfielder Junuz Coralic did the same. The ensuing corner-kick was kicked away by Charleston. Then, just before the half, Cozier headed a ball into the corner for Charleston and it was 1-0. The Silverbacks were clearly deflated. Charleston continued to push forward in the second half and got another goal on a huge keeper mistake when David Winner, who has looked spectacular in recent games, came all the way out of his box towards the right touchline (close to the corner flag), to try to shield the ball away from a Charleston attacker and allow it to go out for an Atlanta throw in. The Charleston player got a touch on it and ran around Winner, then crossed the ball into the box where it was headed in by Paul Conway for the 2-0 lead. The Silverbacks furiously tried to get back into the game. Substituting Jerome Samuels and Patrick Beech (who is still not 100%) for Junuz Coralic and Ze Rodrigues respectively. Multiple free kicks by Beech were pushed away by Huddock, and a Josh Henderson turn around shot narrowly missed side netting late in the game. However, with around 15 minutes to go the referees made their second disgraceful call of the match. Brian Piesner got around the Battery defense and was clearly taken down from behind inside the box. Inexplicably, the refs signaled play on and the Silverbacks bench screamed in disgust. This was perhaps the second goal the refs had cost the Silverbacks! The game wore on and Dusty Huddock continued to push shot after shot away. But the Silverbacks couldn't stop wondering what could have been and the game ended with the score still 2-0, Charleston.
Now back to the officiating. The refs on Saturday night were a disgrace to soccer in the United States. They made bad call after bad call, bad non call after bad non call. The officiating wasn't disgraceful, it was a downright travesty. The early goal they called off, was absolutely horrible. Anybody with eyes on the pitch could see that the ball had hit the soccer post not the football crossbar. What's even worse, is that it was the linesmen who made the call. The head referee, who had originally pointed to the spot signalling a goal for some reason did not overrule the horrible call made by the linesmen and the goal was called off. Even Charleston fans at the game said the call was horrible. Then when Brian Piesner was taken down in the box the referee simply froze and didn't have a chance to blow his whistle until it was to late. Perhaps, the referees chickened out in front of a large crowd, but at home, aren't the calls supposed to go the home teams way? The refereeing is the worst I have ever seen... in my life. Never before, have I seen call after call missed, nor have I ever seen one team cost two goals in less than 90 minutes because of the refs. These referees should be suspended from professional soccer and never referee again, the calls they made were downright pathetic.
Overall, the Silverbacks did show heart and poise. The Battery have now exacted a season sweep of their arch-rival Atlanta, all of them hard fought close games. But with all due respect to the Battery Saturday night, granted the played very well, the Silverbacks were robbed of any chance to win. I hope to never see these referees on a soccer pitch ever again.
