MATT KREMKAU - EMPIRE OF SOCCER

by ANTHONY J. MERCED

HANOVER, N.J. – Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch has been vocal about his issues with officiating this year. That was apparent once again following the team’s 2-2 draw against the Philadelphia Union this weekend.

However, with the Hudson River Derby coming this Sunday, the Red Bulls boss went public with his concerns, hoping those same issues don’t mar the final derby match of the season.

“I’ll say this: going into New York City this weekend, I respect the way David Villa plays. He’s a great player. But he gets a piece of every defender before the ball comes,” Marsch said following the Red Bulls training session on Wednesday afternoon. “He fouls throughout the entire game. He hardly ever gets called for it and if him, Pirlo and Lampard get touched they go down, they draw fouls, they draw yellow cards and it’s an epidemic across the league of these referees who just want to give the benefit of the doubt to star players.”

Despite a pristine record at home with six straight clean sheets and only two losses, the team has dropped a number of games on the road with second half mistakes and uncharacteristic mental lapses. Against NYCFC earlier this month, the team was defensively fragile and couldn’t push their signature high-press to bully the game. Marsch adds officiating to those issues, vocally decrying the referee’s role in matches which he feels have contributed to the team’s woes.

“When you go back and watch the [Philadelphia] game, from the start of the second half, the referee just decided that he wanted to give the Union a little bit of an edge on every little play,” said Marsch. “It’s a trend that we’ve seen with referees.”

The Red Bulls enter Sunday’s game against NYCFC with a lot on the line. Their Bronx-based rivals have their eyes set on maintaining first place in the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile, the Red Bulls are looking to get their season back on track. After a season high four match winning streak, the team has scored just six goals in six matches, earning a single win in that span (1-2-3) while consistently falling short in the waning minutes of matches.

With the team’s latest draw against Philadelphia, Marsch hopes officiating isn’t what sways the NYCFC encounter.

“We’ll see who gets assigned to this game and we’ll see if he can handle the business,” says Marsch. “The frustration that we have on the referees and the way that we feel that we just don’t ever get the benefit of the doubt, one penalty call all year.

“That frustration continues to mount,” he continued. “I’m just waiting for the referees association, I’m waiting for referees, I’m waiting for anyone to recognize the fact that we’re an honest team that plays in an honest way and gets punished for calls, for plays, for penalties, the whole bit across the board and we never get rewarded.”