A high-five for referee Alex Prus

Someone get MLS referee Alex Prus on the phone and tell him I’m about to say something nice about him. Honest.

I get after MLS referees with some regularity. But in all honesty, it’s not always their fault. I really don’t think MLS and U.S. Soccer do enough to encourage these guys to take better control of matches. Generally speaking, it’s not the important refereeing decisions that sometimes go wrong that get me all twisted in knots.  Those can be brutally tough calls to make, and referees the world over can get some of them wrong even on their best day.

Rather, when it comes to MLS men in the middle, it’s the overall management and tone – far too lenient in my mind – where they fall short.

Two nights ago, for instance, I saw the perfect example. It happened early in the Chicago-New England match, a contest that will probably, eventually, help decide a playoff spot in the East. Early in the match, New England’s Pat Phalen whacked Chicago’s Baggio Husidic from behind. Not only was Phalen late in the tackle, it was clearly a tactical foul, one central midfielder caught on the wrong side against another, who was running hard near midfield. It was the textbook definition of a tactical foul, in fact.

Referee Michael Kennedy whistled the foul, but he needed to call Phalen over and give him a good old-fashioned ass-chewing. Did I mention that the tackle was late? And that it was clearly tactical? Honestly, it probably should have been a yellow card. But as it was early, and as a verbal warning probably would have had the same result on the overall match, I would have been happy with that. It’s what the educators of our great land might have called the perfect “teaching moment” for the match.

Nothing. Just a foul. Sigh.

So, all this is a long intro to something that I don’t do very often: give an “atta boy!” to an MLS referee.

Prus was the man in the middle last weekend as Seattle met Chivas USA. Goats’ right back Mariano Trujillo, who can be a pretty nasty player, went MMA on Seattle’s Leo Gonzalez. He swing wildly as the pair tussled, smacking Gonzalez pretty good with his fist / forearm. Gonzalez, for his part, may have been guilty of a foul, but nothing more.

Prus ejected both players. I even mentioned this on my weekly SI.com review. It was a very bad moment.

Well, two things:

Prus is on Twitter. Imagine that. Honestly, I’m not sure how long that’s going to last. The Man may frown on it. But I like it. I always applaud any efforts of transparency.

The other thing is this: Prus admitted that he blew it.  I applaud that, too.

We all get things wrong.  But I like a man who puts his arm up and says, “That one’s on me. I blew it. My fault.” That man moves three spaces forward on the board game Respect in my book.

Here’s what Prus said about the incident on Twitter. (As alerted to me on Bruce McGuire’s excellent site DuNord.)

• 1) After emotions are down a little bit let analyze Gonzales/ Trujillo incident in my last game. After review my tape red to Gonzales harsh.
• 2) Even though Gonzales was instigator he did not make a contact above shoulders like I was told by my crew member on the field.
• 3) Not having the best view of the incident acted on opinion of my crew members. Saying that I am taking full responsibility for this call.
• 4) In officiating we survive as a team and sink as a team. As a head referee I take the blame even though it wasn't really my decision.
• 5) Great learning experience. Because referee is showing card,calls pk doesn't always means that he is making a call.