MLS officiating crackdown already taking its toll 27 Mar 2011 Before the kickoff of the season, MLS headquarters instructed its officials to crack down on fouls in the box and to make absolutely certain that a player was in an offside position before raising the flag. More penalties, more cards, less offside calls — the recipe to boost scoring. We are clearly seeing the effect of the mandate. Fans will likely have to get used to seeing the flag stay down more often than not.
10-man Chicago Fire burns Toronto FC 6 Mar 2011 Toronto FC was unable to capitalize on 55-minute man advantage and dropped a 1-0 decision to the Chicago Fire Saturday evening at Charleston, S.C.‘s Blackbaud Stadium in the opening game of the 2011 Carolina Challenge Cup. A sixth-minute strike from Chicago’s Marco Pappa proved to be the difference, which resulted from a TFC defensive breakdown. Gaston Puerari initially sent a long ball across the face of the goal to Davis Paul, who one-touched back to an open Pappa for the tap-in from four yards out.
