Major League Soccer has fined Portland Timbers head coach Giovanni Savarese an undisclosed amount for criticizing the officiating during Portland’s match against Sporting Kansas City last Saturday.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber announced the fine Wednesday. In a statement, MLS said that Savarese’s comments violated the league’s public criticism policy.

Savarese criticized referee Alex Chilowicz during a halftime interview with Timbers sideline reporter Nat Borchers Saturday after two potential penalty kick calls went against Portland in the first half of the match.

Chilowicz initially awarded the Timbers a penalty kick in the ninth minute after a shot from Portland captain Diego Valeri hit off the arm of Kansas City defender Luis Martins in the box. But Chilowicz reversed his call after determining through a video review that Martins had his arm tucked in at his side in a natural playing position. A cross from Valeri then appeared to hit off the leg of Kansas City defender Matt Besler before striking his arm moments before halftime. Chilowicz did not award the Timbers a penalty kick.

“The referees are screwing us all the time because this too could’ve been a PK,” said Savarese at halftime. “We don’t understand the rules anymore when in some other places these are called PKs. This should be called a PK as well for us. So, I don’t understand. They need to figure it out because the referees don’t understand anything that they are doing. From PRO, they need to communicate this. This should have been at least one PK."

After the game, Savarese said he was upset about the inconsistency in calls made from game to game, particularly when it comes to penalty kick decisions. Portland has been on the wrong side of a handful of penalty kick calls over the last several months. Savarese called on the Professional Referee Organization to clarify the rules to ensure that referees are on the same page when it comes to when they are supposed to award penalty kicks.

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg

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