SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Boys Varsity Soccer Eastside vs JL Mann game at 5:30 at Eastside

As the Eastside Coach, here is my opinion:

We had played JL Mann twice before last night’s game. In the first two games JL Mann had one player on the field to man mark Miguel Teos the whole game. Miguel is probably one of the best players in the state and I can understand them doing this. I may have done the same if I coached against him.

During last nights game they did the same thing. One player marked him the whole game however with the game being that more important the intensity with which they did this was much more. In fact their whole team made sure that if Miguel got the ball they played their part in stopping him in any way they could. For the first 80 minutes of the game every time Miguel got the ball he was pushed, held, pulled, kicked and if he got past one of their players they would pull his shirt and slow him down. For 80 minutes he got this kind of abuse and not once did he retaliate.

I do not blame the JL Mann players. It is the referee's job to protect players on the field. They were going to get away with it as long as the ref let them, which was the whole game. During the first 80 minutes of the game the referee did not protect Miguel at all from this kind of abuse. He never disciplined any JL Mann players verbally or showed any of them a card for what they did. If it happened a few times it would be ok but this happened every time he got the ball.

At the end of regulation time before overtime I walked over to the referee to ask him to protect Miguel on the field. As I started talking he said he did not want to hear anything from me and would not let me speak and would not listen. I tried in a very calm and professional manner to ask him to listen but he would not and showed me a yellow card. All I wanted was to ask was for him to protect Miguel from all the fouling and foul play. I could see Miguel getting frustrated. I wish he had listened. For some reason the referee did not want to communicate in any way in a civil manner with any of the players or coaches.

In the first overtime period Miguel got the same abuse from the JL Mann players. Just before the incident he broke away from the player marking him and his jersey was held again!! The referee did not blow a foul but waved play on. Miguel took the ball down the side of the field and was running at full speed. He pushed the ball slightly too far ahead of himself and a JL man player came in just as Miguel was stretching for the ball. Miguel was just slightly too late and caught the JL Mann player.

This was never an intentional foul. He was running at speed and attempting to get the ball but the JL Mann player got there a split second before he did. He did not do this intentionally or at any time intending to hurt the other player. This was definitely not a flagrant foul. This was his first foul of the game!! I have a video clip that shows what happened and have watched it many, many times. You can tell by his reaction after the incident he did not mean to foul the player.

I have played and coached for over 30 years and most referee’s would have given him a yellow card for this tackle not a red. But then also most referee's would have protected him from the abuse he took.

Miguel is a great player with a great heart. I have coached him for 30 games this year and not one time have I seen him play dirty or intentionally foul or try and hurt anyone. He is a hard but clean player. Anyone that knows Miguel or that has played or coached against him knows that.

The decision by the referee to give him straight red was the wrong decision in my opinion. The referee clearly seemed out of his depth in this kind of game and did not offer any protection. He also cost a great player the opportunity to play in a game he has been wanting to play in for four years.

I do not care who you are; Mother Teresa, the Pope, Ghandi, or anyone else. If you get held, pushed, kicked and fouled for 85 minutes you would also get frustrated.

I am proud of Miguel and the way he handled all the physical abuse that was dished out to him last night. He never reacted to it. The tackle he made was nothing more than miss timed and was never flagrant.

My two big questions are:
1- Why did the ref not protect him more?
2- Why would he not allow me to ask for protection?
3- After all the abuse he got why the straight red and not a yellow?

I have not heard the leagues final decision on this yet.
These are my thoughts.

Scott Halkett
Eastside Boys

is he out for the final?

that would be a big loss for Eastside.

Not much anyone can do, especially considering all SC high school refs are dunces with Jeremy Brooks, Beiber, and Tanverdi leading the way.

I really hope Brooks doesn't get one of the final games.

He always wants the attention to be on him and that takes away from the game.

as does Beiber. Tanverdi is the least of the three clowns, except he muffed up the state championship game two years ago.

MTeos had more than one foul before that call for sure. Not sure if it should have been a staright red. But Teos did have fouls before that one.

A shame for that young man. He is a great soccer player. Is there no appeal process? I was looking forward to watching him on Saturday as well.

I am amazed by this comment by the Eastside coach. What a difference 24 hours makes when he was congratulating Mann, their season and their effort. His next note accuses the Mann defense of playing dirty and fouling Miguel Teos leading to Miguel's getting a red card.

Miguel is a good kid. He is a good player and he plays very hard. Mann has man marked him every one of the six games they have played against Eastside over the last two years with the same kid and he has scored one goal in those 6 games. Coach, did the Mann defense foul Miguel in those games too? What of your players who knocked Benny Puetter all over the field holding him scoreless? What should the referee have done there? While certainly unintentional, Miguel went into the Mann player cleats up which is an automatic red. You are very concerned about Miguel's safety.. what about the Mann player? Why did one of your bench players get a red card also in the overtime when the Mann kid was trying to throw it in? What control do you have over your bench? Those referees were not perfect but you did not win nor did Mann lose because of them.

I have a problem with the Eastside coach calling out kids on the Mann defense and implying they were dirty and overly physical. It is a cheap shot and unfairly impugns their reputations. Does the coach know that Mann had two players on their defense who were first team all state defenders including that "dirty" player who manned Miguel for the game. Perhaps those players are just as good at their positions as Miguel is at his.

Good luck in your game Saturday Coach. You have a good team even without Miguel and you are deserving of playing for the State Championship and I hope you show more sportsmanship than you showed in this letter on a public forum