Boston Breakers head coach Tony DiCicco made sure to make his point about referee Jose Carlos Rivero after last night’s 1-0 loss to the Washington Freedom. You can see the quote that I used here in my game report — I felt the need to explain Alex Scott’s tackle on Sonia Bompastor.
DiCicco continued, though, feeling the need to explain his perspective on officiating in WPS’ first season: “There was a star of the game today, and it wasn’t Abby Wambach, and it wasn’t my players sprinting around. It was the referee. He changed the whole game, and all he had to do was yellow card, fair enough. He has three options: speak firmly to the player, yellow card, and a red card is for something that is way over the top. I haven’t seen the film, but when [Freedom assistant coach] Clyde Watson says to me, ‘I wouldn’t have called a red,’ that tells me that the referee — let’s face it, the referees are learning in this league. Unfortunately, especially the international players, they’re just farther along than our referees. We’re losing Alex Scott for the next game, too. We’re playing on Saturday. So this call is far-reaching…He’s over his head. Most of the referees in this league have been over their heads, and they can look the part and play the part but that is just a very, very difficult call in that stage in the game.”
Fine city, here we come.
