A Breakdown of How PRO Referees Called Orlando City Games in 2015

Referees were a factor in a number of Orlando City’s games this season. Whether it be good or bad (mostly bad), there have been a multitude of different referees during this season that have been in charge of an Orlando City game. I decided to figure out who did what by compiling all the refs that were head officials during this season and figured out all the games that they reffed, how many cards they gave out and how they could have affected the game.

Let's begin the fun, shall we.

Alan Kelly– Three games. Reffed the first home game and the away match against NYCFC (1-1 and 3-5 the final scores) and the second away game against the Chicago Fire, which Orlando won 1-0. Gave out six total yellow cards and one red card (Aurélien Collin against NYCFC). Yesterday, Kelly was named MLS Referee of the Year.

Chris Penso– Three games. Reffed games at Houston (won 1-0), Orlando’s first home game against D.C. United (Lost 1-0 on a last-minute free kick) and the final regular season game at Philadelphia (Lost 1-0 with 22 fouls called against Orlando). Penso gave out a whopping total of 13 yellow cards over those three games, including a second yellow to Cristian Higuita against Philly.

Jorge Gonzalez– Three games. Reffed the game against Vancouver (Lost 1-0 on a last-minute free kick in the sixth minute of four minutes of stoppage), the away game against D.C. United (Lost 2-1 after having the lead at half) and the away game against the New York Red Bulls (Won 5-2, with Larin scoring a hat trick). Gonzalez gave out six yellow cards to Orlando players while giving out ten yellow cards to the opposing teams, including a second yellow to Matt Miazga in the last 15 minutes of the RBNY game.

Ted Unkel– Two games. Reffed the 2-2 draw in Montreal early in the season and the 2-2 draw against New England. Dished out seven yellow cards to Orlando players and eight yellow cards to the opposing teams. No red cards were given by Unkel, unless you count the one when he was the fourth official against the New York Red Bulls in July when Larin was sent off, which was later reversed.

Kevin Stott– Two games. Reffed the 2-0 win at the Portland Timbers and the 0-4 loss at the Seattle Sounders. A tale of two games for Stott. The Portland match was favored for Orlando City, but the Seattle game was very much against the Lions. A total of six yellow cards were given to Orlando, including a second yellow send-off to Tyler Turner in the Sounders game.

Ricardo Salazar– Two games. Reffed two out of the three games against the Columbus Crew (3-0 loss in Columbus and the 5-2 win in Orlando). Only gave out two yellow cards against Orlando, but did give a straight red to Rafael Ramos in the loss to Columbus. To his credit, he only gave three cards during each game and seemed pretty fair most of the time.

Jose Carlos Rivero– Three games. Reffed two out of three games against Toronto FC (0-2 loss at home and 0-5 loss in Toronto) as well as the 1-0 victory at home against D.C. United. Gave out nine yellow cards, including two red cards (a straight red to Ramos and a second yellow send-off to Adrian Winter, both in Toronto).

Jair Maruffo– Two games. Reffed only in Orlando when they played the LA Galaxy (4-0 win) and Sporting KC (3-1 win). Only gave a pair of yellow cards to Orlando, one of them being against Kaká for putting on Kevin Molino’s jersey. Also sent off Dom Dwyer in the SKC match, which was later overturned. Maruffo finished third in MLS Referee of the Year voting.

Allen Chapman– Three games. Reffed two Orlando City draws (1-1 in San Jose and 0-0 at home against Philadelphia) and the final home game against NYCFC (2-1 win). Gave out four yellow cards to Orlando players, including a straight red for Brek Shea against the Earthquakes. Only gave six total cards out over three games, not going over three cards in any of those games.

Silviu Petrescu– Three games. Reffed the 2-2 draw against Columbus, the 2-0 win over the Colorado Rapids and the 4-1 loss in Toronto. Only gave out five yellow cards to Orlando players, while giving out eight yellow cards to the opponents, including a straight red to Michael Parkhurst of Columbus — for a handball on the goal line.

Juan Guzman– Two games. Reffed the 3-2 comeback win in Chicago and the 0-2 loss at home against FC Dallas. Distributed seven yellow cards to Orlando players, including a second yellow send-off to Luke Boden at the end of the FC Dallas game. Also didn’t give a goal to Pedro Ribeiro in the FC Dallas game where he looked to be onside, but that is more the assistant ref’s fault than Guzman’s.

Edvin Jurisevic– Two games. Reffed two games against the Montreal Impact. The 0-2 loss in Montreal and the recent 2-1 win in Orlando. Gave five yellow cards in those two games, two of them resulting in yellow card accumulation suspensions for Kaká and Brek Shea. Also missed the controversial goal scored by Dominic Oduro in the game in Orlando but, again, that’s more on the assistant ref than the head ref, although his positioning could have been better.

Sorin Stoica– One game. Only reffed the 1-1 draw in Utah against Real Salt Lake. Managed to give out two yellow cards to Orlando and one straight red to Kaká, the first one ever in his career.

Fotis Bazakos– One game. In charge of the 2-0 loss at home against the New York Red Bulls. Only gave one yellow, but red carded Larin (with the help of Ted Unkel), which changed the dynamic of the game entirely.

Baldomero Toledo– One game. Reffed the incredibly long, rain delayed, five-hour match in Orlando against the Chicago Fire. Gave out two yellow cards to Orlando and gave Cyle Larin’s goal to Eric Gehrig as an own goal. Toledo finished second in MLS Referee of the Year voting.

Mark Geiger– One game. The #GeigerShow only made one appearance for Orlando City, in the 3-0 loss in Boston against the New England Revolution. Only one yellow card issued to an Orlando player, but the Lions were without much of their firepower during this game, so the scoreline had little to do with Geiger’s officiating.

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The three finalists for MLS Referee of the Year officiated six OCSC games combined, with Kelly doing the most (three).

So, now comes the fun part, which I will leave up to you, the reader. Which of the aforementioned referees were the best or worst for Orlando City? Let me know in the comments and before you mention it, you CANNOT say that all of them were terrible. That wouldn't be any fun.