Referees’ organization admits handball no-call error in Sporting KC’s game against RSL

The Professional Referee Organization, the governing body for Major League Soccer’s officials, has acknowledged an error on the part of the Video Assistant Referee during Sporting KC’s home game against Real Salt Lake on Sunday.

PRO’s admission came a day after head referee Ted Unkel and the Video Assistant Referee, or VAR — Younes Marrakchi — refused to award Sporting KC a penalty kick in the final minutes of Sunday’s regular-season finale at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kan.

Sporting KC was denied a penalty in the 90th minute, with the game still scoreless, after TV replays clearly showed that RSL’s Justen Glad had touched the ball with his hand in his own penalty box.

Unkel waved off Sporting KC’s protest and Marrakchi, the VAR assigned to the match, did not recommend a second look at the sequence. The call robbed Sporting KC of an opportunity to take a late lead in the Decision Day game and potentially claim the Western Conference ‘s top seed for the MLS playoffs.

Instead, RSL scored a stoppage-time goal soon after and won the game 1-0 to squeak into the playoffs with the West’s final seed, sending Sporting to third place.

The decision to not award KC a penalty, or even have the VAR review the play further, left Sporting KC’s Peter Vermes apoplectic. The veteran coach began his post-game news conference with a nine-minute monologue in which he demanded more explanation.

He got it this week. Here is PRO’s statement in response to the incident:

“The video assistant referee (VAR), when checking the play, saw that the ball made contact with Real Salt Lake defender Justen Glad’s right hand, but concluded that the non-awarding of a penalty kick did not reach the threshold of a clear and obvious error, and therefore did not recommend a Video Review to the referee.

“However, the footage shows clear movement to the ball by the right hand of Glad, in a manner which can reasonably be interpreted as being consistent with a handball offense.”

PRO went on to say that a video review should have been recommended and a penalty should’ve been awarded ... and that the failure to recommend such a review was an error by the VAR.

In the game’s immediate aftermath, Unkel’s crew responded to a pool reporter’s questions on the matter by saying that, after checking all available angles, the VAR had determined that not reviewing the play for a penalty was not a clear and obvious error.

With the third seed entering the playoffs, Sporting KC plays host to surging No. 6 seed Vancouver on Nov. 20. The first-round game against the Whitecaps kicks off at 4 p.m. at Children’s Mercy Park.

The victor faces the winner of an opening-round match between the No. 2 Seattle Sounders and No. 7 RSL in the conference semifinals.

This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 3:42 PM with the headline "Referees’ organization admits handball no-call error in Sporting KC’s game against RSL."