Oscar Pareja, the head coach of Orlando City, described his team’s loss against Lionel Messi and Inter Miami on Wednesday as a “circus” and said that the Argentine should have been ejected from the match.
The Miami Dolphins advanced to the round of 16 in the League Cup thanks to two goals from Lionel Messi and a goal from Ivan Barton, a Salvadoran referee, but their coach, who is from Colombia, was quite upset with Barton’s judgments.
After receiving a caution in the 21st minute, Pareja believed that Messi should have been sent off with a second yellow card for committing another foul.
“Leo Messi was given two yellow cards in quick succession. It makes no difference to me that he was Messi. This has an impact on the game. The game should be played fairly, but that did not happen out there on the field.
“We take our responsibility, OK, we lost, we are frustrated, but I have to say (this), you cannot hide this kind of situation,” he added. “We take full responsibility for the loss.”
When Miami were granted a penalty when Venezuelan striker Josef Martinez fell down after a minor pull in the area, Pareja was also livid with that decision and the entire conduct of the game. The game was tied at 1-1 when Miami was awarded the penalty. Pareja was equally angry with the decision.
“The attention that we get with all that is happening, it becomes a circus,” said Pareja, who was irritated that the referee did not go to the monitor to check the penalty ruling. “(This match) was a circus.”
“The punishment was completely unreasonable. Unbelievable. “If the video assistant referee was present and we have referees, then we have an obligation to tell the truth and go watch it because the game merits it,” he said.
“We are at a loss for words. “The people want to see soccer and things have to be fair, but (in this game) it was not the case,” stated the Orlando coach, who observed that Barton did go to the monitor later in the game to over-rule an Orlando goal. “The people want to see soccer and things have to be fair,” said the coach of the Orlando team.
Messi added Miami’s third goal and his second to clinch the team’s third consecutive victory since the Argentine forward joined the club. In those three victories, the five goals Messi has scored make him the first player in the history of the World Cup to do so.
The seven-time winner of the Ballon d’Or was subjected to intense scrutiny and, at times, physical contact from Orlando’s defense, but the player’s coach, Gerardo “Tata” Martino, said that this was to be expected, particularly in a derby match.
“Just like when Barcelona plays Real Madrid and River plays Boca, these exact same things happen,” Martino added.
“We were up against a really challenging adversary, and it was a pretty taxing situation. Teams have additional motive (now), and without a shadow of a doubt, I anticipate many more games like this one.
On the other hand, the Argentine coach declined to comment on Pareja’s statements.
I am not going to comment on what Oscar Pareja stated during his news conference because I am not going to provide my viewpoint. I have a lot of respect for his point of view, but we need to keep our focus on the task at hand, which is winning our fourth game in a row.
In the round of 16 of the competition for Major League Soccer (MLS) and Mexican Liga MX teams, Miami will play FC Dallas in the state of Texas on Sunday.