SB Nation - Jack Jewsbury

Video: Kevin Goldthwaite Does Best Chicharito Impression

Jeremiah Oshan — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 05:47:52 -0000

No, your eyes did not deceive you. Yes, that was Kevin Goldthwaite doing his best Chicharito impression while scoring a back-heeled goal against the New York Red Bulls. Yes, that's the Kevin Goldthwaite who's a backup center back on the Portland Timbers. Yes, that's the same Kevin Goldthwaite who entered the game with three goals in his seven MLS seasons. Yes, that's the same Kevin Goldthwaite who spent parts of four seasons with the Red Bulls before being waived at the end of last year.

I suppose it's not quite as pretty as you'd expect when you hear the phrase "back-heeled goal" but it's impressive nonetheless. The whole play, in fact, is quite impressive. Once again, Jack Jewsbury provides some quality service on a free kick; center back Eric Brunner makes a nice play to head it back into the box; and of course Goldthwaite finishes it off nicely. Hopefully, this play doesn't get lost in the madness that followed.

Video: Portland Timbers Get Three Shots At Penalty

Jeremiah Oshan — Mon, 30 May 2011 03:39:09 -0000

It's not often that a penalty gets retaken for the goalkeeper coming off his line early. It's even more rare that, no matter how justified, a sideline referee will feel emboldened enough to call it twice in a row. But that's exactly what we saw during DC United's 3-2 win over the Portland Timbers on Sunday.

Both times, the referee got the call right. Bill Hamid came at least a step off his line (although not 2-3 yards like Timbers announcer Robbie Earle said) and did cut down Kenny Cooper's angle.

It was pretty impressive that Hamid was able to compose himself after the first save to still make the second, and neither of Cooper's attempts were particularly badly taken. You can definitely understand why he reacted the way he did.

But, give the referee credit for sticking to his guns. Hamid broke the rules, gave himself an advantage and got called for it. There are too many referees who won't make the first call, let alone the second. Also worth crediting John Spencer for making the tough decision to let captain Jack Jewsbury take the attempt despite Cooper's pleas to get one more shot. Tensions were high and it was definitely the right call to change it up.

VIDEO: The Penalty Kick Madness In Sunday's D.C. United Match

Samuel Chamberlain — Mon, 30 May 2011 00:28:18 -0000

The Portland Timbers needed three tries at a penalty kick to score an equalizing goal against D.C. United Sunday afternoon. This is unusual, as most of the time you only get one chance at a penalty kick. Here's how the madness happened.

Let's start with the penalty itself. It looked to me like Dejan Jakovic clearly pulled down Kenny Cooper by his shirt in the area. Reasonable minds can disagree, however, so here's the video below.

So, Cooper picks himself up and goes to take the penalty. Then things start to get nuts.

Cooper takes the penalty and Bill Hamid pulls off a great save low to his right. But, as you'll see below, after Hamid saves the penalty, assistant referee Eric Proctor raises his flag. Hamid has stepped off the goal line before Cooper has struck the ball. Therefore the penalty is not legitimate.

This is all covered in this section of Law 14 in FIFA's laws of the game. Law 14 covers matters, infractions and incidents related to penalty kicks, and it plainly says the defending goalkeeper "must remain on his goal line, facing the kicker, between the goalposts until the ball has been kicked." However, the penalty is retaken only if it is not scored in these cases. Matters are complicated by the fact that referees tend to give the goalkeeper a bit (just a bit of leeway) when it comes to straying off the goal line. Obviously, Hamid's encroachment was too obvious for the assistant referee to ignore.

So everyone pulls themselves together, Cooper retakes the penalty, and Hamid pulls off another great save, this time going low to his left. But again, he comes off his line too early, Proctor raises his flag, and referee Geoff Gamble orders another penalty kick.

By the letter of the law, the ruling is correct. However, you can't really blame Bill Hamid for losing his top here, as it's remarkably rare for a penalty to be retaken once in a match, never mind twice. This match (start at 57 minutes) is the most recent (and only other) time I can think of wherein a penalty had to be retaken twice.

Jack Jewsbury takes the third penalty instead of Cooper, which the latter seems none-too-pleased about, but the decision works as Jewsbury blazes an unstoppable shot past Hamid.

Not exactly something that D.C. United will want to relive, but hey, they eventually got the win, so at least we can look back on this and laugh, yes?