There was a lot for Josh Wolff to digest from Austin FC's 1-0 loss at Real Salt Lake Saturday night. Wolff lauded the fight in his expansion team for battling until the final whistle despite spending much of the second half down a man.
But it was that red card, and one not given later in the second half, that drew Wolff’s ire in his post-match comments.
“There's a few real questionable things happening out there tonight,” Wolff said.
The controversy started early in the second half, when Justin Meram, after forcing a turnover in the Austin defensive third, was hauled down by Julio Cascante outside the box.
Referee Dave Gantar immediately issued Cascante a yellow card for the foul, but following Video Review withdrew the yellow card and presented Cascante with a red card instead for DOGSO.
Wolff said he didn’t receive an explanation from the fourth official, Alyssa Nichols, in the moment or from Gantar after the match.
“The red card is not a red card,” Wolff said. “One, I think he's offside before the play even happens. So what they're doing and what they're looking at, I have no idea.”
Wolff thought Real Salt Lake should have also been down to 10 men when Marcelo Silva made contact with Sebastian Driussi's leg on a follow-through after clearing the ball in the 70th minute.
Driussi limped off, favoring his right leg, in the 72nd minute.
“It's our DP and the guy comes through and he knows exactly what he's doing, it's a red card,” Wolff said. “There’s absolutely no excuse for not seeing that and calling it. I think it's absolutely ridiculous and it's unfortunate. We're lucky Sebastian, his leg came out of the ground, his foot came out of the ground, or it could have been much, much worse. We'll have to see how he is.”
As upset as he was with the officiating, Wolff was proud of his team for dictating play during much of the road match.
“I’m extremely proud of our guys. They busted their ass the whole time,” Wolff said. “For the majority of this game, we were the better team. And even when we were down a guy, I loved our willingness to compete and fight and keep driving the game. And that's what these guys have been the whole time. Of course we missed goals, we missed opportunities. We should have scored in the first half. There was a couple half-chances in the second half and we're down a guy.”
