Major League Soccer referees will focus on four new points of emphasis throughout the 2017 MLS regular season, said Professional Referee Organization (PRO) manager Peter Walton on Friday.
Officials have been instructed to play closer attention in the following four areas over the course of a match:
- Holding and pushing in the penalty area
- Acts of visual dissent
- Delayed restarts
- Persistent infringement
Walton also discussed offseason changes to the Laws of the Game, which were recently established by the International Football Association Board (IFAB).
Among the major changes, players will no longer receive an automatic red card for denying an obviously goal-scoring opportunity in the penalty box. In addition, kickoffs can now be played both forwards and backwards, and players who were injured by a yellow or red card offense can briefly receive treatment on the pitch without having to come off.
The new rules were implemented at international tournaments beginning last summer, but MLS has not put them into effect until this season.
Click here for a full rundown of the IFAB rule changes.
Holding and pushing in the penalty area
This point of emphasis revolves particularly around set pieces, as referees will punish offenders who are "clearly impeding the opponent" without attempting to play the ball.
“Bracketing or jockeying players is all part of the game and is an accepted part of the game, as far as I’m concerned," Walton said. "But the overt pulling and pushing that happens where the defender or the attacker just doesn’t have their eyes on the ball and is clearly impeding the opponent, those are the sorts of ones that we want detected and indeed punished."
Acts of visual dissent
Referees will have less tolerance for players and coaches who react to calls with "arms thrown in the air" or chase "after an official to berate them." Yellow cards will punish such dissent.
Delayed restarts
Referees won't condone players who kick the ball out of play or stand over a free kick to make sure it can't be taken quickly by the opponent. Deliberate delays of restarts will be punished via yellow cards.
“A lot of teams in Major League Soccer now play good pass and movement games, possession games and as part of that tactic they’d like to see the ball being put back into play quickly. And that’s something again that opponents are picking up on that and denying them that opportunity,” Walton said. “What’s required from our referees is that they must be aware of when players are trying to deliberately delay restarting the game and punish accordingly.”
Persistent infringement
Referees will be wary of recurring "small, petty fouls that don't rise to a yellow card nature in isolation, but break the rhythm of the game and upset opponents," Walton said. All four officials are tasked with detecting persistent infringement, but Walton did not enumerate how many fouls would constitute a yellow card, instead relying on referees to manage each match appropriately.
