Crooks: Red Bulls Coach Has Thinner Wallet After Sounding Off On Refs

By Glenn Crooks
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It was a simple midweek question for New York Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch after training at the RBNY facility in Whippany, New Jersey.

Last Sunday, the Red Bulls surrendered a 2-0 lead on the road to Philadelphia and had to settle for one point in a 2-2 draw. The Red Bulls are now 1-7-3 away from Red Bull Arena.

"What is the mentality of the team heading into the derby with New York City FC following a game like that?" asked a reporter.

MORE: Schwartz: For Red Bulls' Grella, The New York Derby Hits Home

I would imagine Marsch's wife, Kim, was not delighted with the retort since he was cognizant that the league would demand a check made out to "Major League Soccer."

"When you go back and watch the game from the start of the second half, the referee just decided that he wanted to give the Union a little bit of the edge," claimed Marsch.

Alan Kelly, the 2015 MLS Referee of the Year, officiated the RBNY-Union match.

"When there was a dead ball and he was not clear which way it's going – sometime it's the 50-50s that he just wanted to give the benefit of the doubt to the Union," Marsch said. "It's a trend that we've seen with referees."

Cha-ching!

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Marsch continued without prodding, his emotions escalating, as he scrutinized Sunday's rivalry match in Harrison, New Jersey.

"Going into New York City this weekend – I respect the way David Villa plays, he's a great player," said Marsch. "But every game I watch he gets a piece of every defender before the ball comes – he fouls throughout the entire game and hardly ever gets called for it. And then if him, (Andrea) Pirlo or (Frank) Lampard get touched, they go down, they draw fouls, they draw yellow cards, and its epidemic. It's epidemic across the league, these referees who want to give the benefit of the doubt to star players."

Cha-ching!

"The frustration that we have on the referees and the way we feel we don't ever get the benefit of the doubt – one penalty call all year – that frustration continues to mount," continued Marsch. "I'm just waiting for the referee's association, waiting for the referees, waiting for anyone to recognize that we have an honest team that plays in an honest way and that gets punished across the board and hardly ever gets rewarded."

Phew! Cha-ching!

MLS released this statement Friday: "Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber today fined New York Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch an undisclosed amount for public criticism of the officials."

Back to Wednesday and the concluding comments from Marsch as they pertained to officiating.

"So, we'll see who gets assigned to this game (Red Bulls-NYCFC), and we'll see if he can handle the business," said the 2015 MLS Coach of the Year. "I'm hoping we get a ref that can understand how to ref this game."

Former New Jersey school teacher Mark Geiger has been assigned to the "Big Apple Clasico." Marsch was critical of Geiger in a 1-0 loss at New England over three months ago.

"Geiger had such a huge impact on this game by having a bad performance," said Marsch following the early April match.

That was the match when Kemar Lawrence was down near the edge of the box with an injury and New England scored the game-winner while he was prone. Geiger had allowed play to continue.

"He (Geiger) can blow the whistle when a guy is down like that," exclaimed Marsch.

Geiger also disqualified Felipe on a disputed red card in the New England match.

While not referring to Geiger specifically, New York City coach Patrick Vieira, did not hesitate to question the abundance of red cards issued in the league earlier this season – including Felipe's ejection.

"Some of the red cards I saw last week were very harsh," said Vieira ahead of his match against the Chicago Fire in April, which was handled by Geiger. "The referee is making the decision too quickly. They need to take a look around, look at the reaction of the players and take a few moments before making the decision."

The Professional Referees Association has limited Geiger, the 2011 MLS Referee of the Year. The former math teacher at Lacey Township High School will be working just his eighth match in the middle on Sunday.

Is Motivation Necessary?

Marsch elected to use a curious motivator leading into the derby while providing a three-point guarantee. Following New York City's 2-0 victory over the Red Bulls on July 3, City's first win in five rivalry matches against RBNY, Villa posted a celebratory team photo on his Twitter account.

"Listen, that picture is going up. That picture of them in the locker room is going up," assured Marsch. "We're going to take a look at that. We're going to remind ourselves how that game was, how that felt. We're going to put the game on our terms and find a way to get three points."

A sensitive Marsch also focused on post-game Villa remarks following the Red Bulls' 7-0 thrashing of City in their opening encounter this season.

"It's not the Red Bulls," said the City captain in broken English after the lopsided loss. "With our play today, any team in the world that plays against us -- winners for sure. The Red Bulls, it doesn't matter."

Marsch took exception to Villa's observations.

"That may be his feeling, but the reality is that game was put on our terms by us," Marsch explained. "I take that as a knock against us, and it's something that we will remember."

Throw-Ins

• The Red Bulls lead the series 4-1 and have outscored NYCFC 14-4. This will be their third and final regular season contest in 2016 and first at Red Bull Arena.

• Luis Robles leads all MLS goalkeepers with six home clean sheets. No other player has more than four.

• In all five previous derby matches, the team that led at halftime won the game.

• NYCFC's Villa leads MLS with 13 goals while teammate Tommy McNamara is first with eight assists from open play (not including set pieces). RBNY midfielder Sacha Kljestan has 10 overall assists to head MLS, and he ranks third in the league in goals plus assists per 90 minutes (0.81).

For all things futbol, please follow Glenn on Twitter at @GlennCrooks. You can also read his work at Empire of Soccer.