Matt Besler
Sporting Kansas City head to LA this weekend to take on the Galaxy and attempt to snap the reigning MLS Champions’ 25 game home unbeaten streak…
Tall task? You bet.
Especially without KC’s leading goalscorer and best defender of this young 2015 season, Ike Opara, who went down last week with a season-ending ruptured achilles in a 0-0 draw with Real Salt Lake.
Bad break for KC, who now are pretty thin in the back. And of course, bad break for Ike, who suffered a season-ending broken ankle just last year.
KC boss Peter Vermes has confirmed that the team is looking to sign another central defender quickly in the wake of Ike’s injury.
Oh, and did you hear about those “garbage throw-ins” heading into the Salt Lake match last week?
Prior to the game, RSL fullback Tony Beltran made the comment in an interview when he was asked about what challenges KC poses. “This garbage long throw-in they do, is, dangerous,” said Beltran.
Seems that Matt Besler‘s heaves are getting plenty of attention around the league, with some calling out the refs for allowing what they claim is an illegal throw.
Most of the critics claim that Besler is throwing the ball one-handed, and is not coming directly over his head, both of which are prohibited for a throw-in, and would result in the other team being awarded the throw.
Opara
Granted, no coaches or players will directly call out the refs, probably for fear of being fined. But they certainly can imply things.
“We talked a little bit about how we wanted to defend long throw-ins, so it’s a shame that we have to spend more time and energy talking about that, but it is the game and it’s the league we’re in, and there seems to be a few teams that are focused on attacking that way,” said NYCFC head coach Jason Kreis.
His squad lost 1-0 to KC after an Opara header off a long throw a few weeks ago.
Needless to say, a bad throw is one of the easier calls for a ref to make, and I don’t recall Besler ever being whistled for the offense.
Nate Bukaty
But you could tell there was some animosity about Beltran’s comment on the Sporting side. In last week’s broadcast, new play-by-play guy Nate Bukaty constantly made reference to it, saying things like, “Here comes another one of those garbage throws!”
I can’t imagine how much Bukaty was praying for a KC goal off of one of the long throws – I bet he had a pre-loaded goal-call ready to throw in RSL’s face.
Alas, the game ended with neither side creating much of anything, even though Sporting had the edge in possession and shots, per usual.
But the real point is, if the refs aren’t calling it, why would you stop doing it? For some nebulous style points from the soccer gods? It’s just as good as a corner.
Personally, I want to see Besler develop a flip-throw. Go old school on that.
The only problem with flip throws is you have zero accuracy.
Watching his mechanics it is very close to an illegal throw. You can’t blame other teams for trying, his throw-ins are basically like corner kicks.