Real Salt Lake Coach Jason Kreis on Monday chastised Major League Soccer’s referees for a series of poor decisions that have cost his team valuable points. “I have a team doing their best to reward fans through a frustrating time and a frustrating few years. I feel the players are doing what they need to, the coaching staff is doing what they do, but being wronged by critical referee decisions is unacceptable,” Kreis told the Deseret Morning News, “knowing full well he’d likely be fined for his comments,” the paper said. “Inconsistency is when it goes one way one week and another the next week. [Decisions] are consistently going against us,” the RSL coach added.
During RSL’s most recent game against L.A., Kreis claims that referee Kevin Scot erroneously awarded a direct kick for a dangerous play by Dema Kovalenko. David Beckham scored on the resulting free kick, which Kreis says should have been indirect. Then, three minutes later, RSL’s Kenny Deuchar had a goal disallowed for offside, but Kreis says he watched the replay over and over and believes the player was onside.
“[Deuchar] scored a goal that for me would’ve been a game breaker, it would’ve absolutely demoralized them and meant two more points in our pocket,” said Kreis. “We all want more and feel like we deserve more, and the moment feel like it’s been taken away. It’s unacceptable for the team, for the organization and whole community.”