By Matthew Doyle

Remember last week when I excoriated MLS refs for more or less ruining the first leg of the opening round of the playoffs?  Well, I was right, they sure sucked.  Definitely not wrong about that.

But in my fit of righteous anger, I might have implied that no other refs, anywhere, could be as bad as what we saw in those first round contests.  About that, I was wrong.  Martin Atkinson took less than a week to give me the lie.

I’m neither a Chelsea nor a Manchester United fan – I rather dislike both teams.  So take this from a neutral:  That was as bad a five minutes of officiating as I’ve ever seen.  Jonny Evans should have been sent off, no questions asked.  Drogba should not have been shown any card – he may be an unlikeable prat, but if being unlikeable was a cardable offense then 90% of all footballers and near 100% of managers would start every match on yellow.  Sure, he didn’t help his cause by rolling around as if he’d been tasered.  But again:  He’d just gotten kicked in the chest.  If Joey Barton had done what Evans did, there would have been a national inquest.

Atkinson followed up by incorrectly whistling Fletcher for a foul on Cole, leading to the free kick where Drogba planted himself in an offside position which absolutely had an impact on Terry’s subsequent goal.  As bad a five minutes of officiating as I’ve ever seen.

So MLS refs, you’re off the hook.  Especially since, by and large, the second leg of the opening round of games was handled much better than the first.

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We’re still waiting for the Austrian mothership to appoint local representation here in New York.  As it stands, Erik Stover is still the GM, Jeff Agoos is still the Sporting Director and Richie Williams is still the Manager.  Same as it was three months ago.

Williams wants the job, and should probably get it based upon results and pedigree.  The problem is, he’ll only take the job if the Sporting Director is someone with whom he can be on the same page.  He’s seen disaster walking – the Osorio/Agoos combo – and knows what works and what doesn’t.

Stover wants to hire a Sporting Director who has an expansive, coherent vision for the first team, youth academy, potential reserve team and public image.  He was paid a visit by Dietmar Beieresdorfer last week – Beieresdorfer is the head of all of Red Bull’s soccer operations (which now include Salzburg, Leipzig, Brazil and Ghana in addition to our little thing here) – and Beieresdorfer either wasn’t tasked with or wasn’t able to make a final decision.

Agoos likely wants to hold onto his job, but he should be launched directly into the sun.  The latest rumor to trickle out of the RBFO is that he gave Leo Krupnick, a central defender who was picked up midseason and so thoroughly underwhelmed that he’s been nicknamed “Crapstick” by the supporters, a two year guaranteed deal at close to $150,000 per.  Based upon that alone, Agoos should be out of a job.

Where does this end up?  I’d venture a guess that Red Bull won’t be all together thrilled with the idea of Williams essentially dictating terms.  Even terms that aren’t the least bit onerous and are derived from the most basic common sense.  They’ll let him walk to DC United or TFC, of which the first is his most likely location.  If Red Bull were going to make him more than an interim manager, they’d have done so by now.

Agoos will hold onto a paycheck as a scout, or janitor or some such.  His replacement as Sporting Director will be the biggest name Red Bull can afford, with Carlos Queiroz still topping the list.  If not him, then Youri Djorkaeff and Adreas Herzog are the other two most commonly mentioned.

Around the league…

It’s nice to see negative soccer punished every now and again.  The latest example are the Columbus Crew, last year’s MLS Cup champions, and this year’s first round roadkill after a 4-2 aggregate loss to Real Salt Lake.  Crew manager Robert Warzycha employed a double defensive midfield lineup, and after RSL realized that meant they were in no danger of Columbus attacking up the middle, they began mightily punishing the Crew.  Stupid, ultra-defensive tactics at home from a first year manager who’s proven to be in over his head…

New England Revolution blessedly made a couple of defensive gaffes to cost them in a 2-0 loss at Chicago Fire.  Cuauhtemoc Blanco may be despicable, but he’s a hell of a footballer.  He created the first goal and scored the second, and it’s nice that I can go five months without having to watch the Revs again…

Out west, Houston Dynamo and Seattle Sounders played the most physical first round series, and one that was brutal to watch, to boot, since they seemed more interested in kicking chunks out of each other than playing football.  That said, Houston’s Brian Ching scored what was unquestionably the best goal of the first round to give the Dynamo a 1-0 aggregate win in overtime of the second leg…

LA Galaxy beat Chivas USA 1-0 in the second leg for a 3-2 aggregate triumph that will very likely be Preki’s last bit of work as manager of the Goats.  He’s got a great tactical mind, but he works his players to death and they hate him for it.  Not a good way to run a club.  Bruce Arena, on the other hand, has his team fully in the palm of his hand (GoldenBalls included), and if they’re a bit short on talent it’s still only a bit.  The smart money isn’t exactly on the Gals, but it’s not against them, either…

Predictions:

Chicago 2-1 RSL
Los Angeles 1-0 Houston

And no, I wouldn’t wager on either of those (though I did go three-for-four in my first round predictions).