I have a lot of respect for Philadelphia Union boss Peter Nowak, but he wasn’t at his best after his team’s debut last night.
Union boss Nowak gets it wrong after Thursday’s MLS opener
His team had just lost its inaugural match, 2-0, a fairly predictable result considering the circumstances.
Less predictable were Nowak’s misguided comments afterward. He went banging on about “diving and whining” from
If you saw the match, you would be hard-pressed to argue about any of the five cautions issued by Ricardo Salazar, who had a good night managing a pretty difficult match –
one seeded with lots of young, excitable players. (Players hopped up on the great atmosphere and, presumably, lots of strong
Issuing yellow cards and a red before halftime takes some guts, and too many referees might not have had the stomach to be so bold. But it was the correct way to go; if MLS referees follow Salazar’s lead MLS matches will be a lot easier on the eyes this year, believe me.
Nowak sees it differently. But that’s understandable. His job is to win matches – and make no mistake, his young team’s best chance to win this year will be through high-pressure and physical play. Because his young roster, full of pep and potential but short on caginess and creativity, simply won’t be able to match most opponents’ attacking talent. He doesn’t have a Ljungberg, a Donovan, Kljestan, de Guzman, De Rosario, Jamie Moreno, etc.
Here’s what Nowak had to say:
“From the other standpoint we got to see all this flopping and diving and when you see the stats we have eight fouls and six cards that is too much. There is guys rolling around the pitch like they got shot. I think we need to recognize there are guys doing this stuff and trying to take advantage of the referee decisions. I expect someone like Freddie Ljungberg who has scored so many goals and played hundreds of games with the national team and won so many trophies would be more honest than he is. He is complaining and whining about missing a goal and trying to push the referee for a yellow card is not up to his standards. I believe and we both played the game and I believe when you play the game you not only try to win but try to be honest with your effort. I think it is below his standards.”
First, let’s remember that Nowak chose to sign one of the league’s all-time worst divers, Alejandro Moreno. Nowak is smart enough to know so, so there’s outright hypocrisy at work here.
Second, I’d like to hear Nowak acknowledge that his own players bear significant complicity in the six cards issued. Nowak beat the drum during preseason for toughness and discipline in his young team. Well, toughness without smarts is effort wasted.
Danny Califf got a yellow card less than a minute into the franchise debut match, for something that happened off the ball, no less. That’s just silly for anyone. But for one of the teams more experienced players to do it? Well, what kind of example is that?
(How about this from your team captain: “Obviously, I try to impose myself on the attackers straight away and it just happened to be seen,” Califf said. Huh? How about just being a defender and not an MMA artist? A good defender imposes himself by winning the ball. If you leave a mark in the process, so be it, so long as the action was legal. That’s good, tough soccer.)
What about Toni Stahl putting a knee in Fredy Montero’s back – as Montero faced the wrong way, 65 yards away from
Young players will make mistakes, and I understand that. But Nowak’s chief mission coming out of the debut should be to start correcting mistakes immediately. I respect Nowak, but he’s off to a bad start in that regard. He didn’t need to bang on about diving and whining. He didn’t need to excuse unwise choices. He just needed to begin the important business of correcting the correctable.
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