April 2016 MLS Referee Power Rankings

Here is the first installment of MLS Referee Power Rankings for 2016!

Rank	Referee		Trend	Comments
1		Alan Kelly	-	Alan Kelly continues to be solid and controversy free. This is again probably why we never see him at Crew matches. Interestingly, as of 4/26/16, he was averaging 1 PK call per match, taking over for Unkel as PK-Giver.
2		Ismail Elfath	-	I've not seen much negative or positive about Elfath. But hey, he drew the ire of Cosmos fans in 2014! That's something to keep him at the top! YAY PRO/REL!
3		Kevin Stott	+4	Stott has been reffing MLS matches since 1996. Think about that. His call of the game between Columbus and Houston was spot on, except the missed Alex forearm to Saied's head. I'm including the Meram yellow and the correct defender-playing-the-ball-non-offside and DOGSO red card to Tyler Deric.
4		Armando Villarreal	-	In my mind, Villarreal continues to be a top referee in terms of fitness and calls. He did miss a penalty recently, but his reaction of admitting to missing the call is refreshing. Striving to be better is important.
5		Mark Geiger	-	I continue to advocate that Geiger is one of the best refs in the world. He's stayed in the background pretty well this season...
6		Nima Saghafi	N/A	Mr. Saghafi recently earned his first MLS match as center referee. This weekend, he earned himself a second assignment for Real Salt Lake vs. Houston. Usually the new refs get the Crew!
7		Ted Unkel	-4	Ted has been pretty solid, but he really messed up the red card in the Crew game against NYCFC. When your employer says "Referees should know their players, particularly MLS players who are well known, and should be aware of the difference between Michael Parkhurst and Tyson Wahl." Yeah, that's not good. He'll have to work hard to get back on top.
8		David Gantar	-	ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
9		Marcos De Oliviera	-	I hope he gets more assignments so that we can see if he improves or goes downhill.
10		Baldomero Toledo	-4	What a disgrace. The way he handled the no handball called--handball foul--penalty--not actually a foul debacle was embarrassing! (Interestingly, Kaka defended him)
11		Chris Penso	+6	Penso's arrogance drives me batty. And I'm not alone! Penso has to find himself at the center of big plays. He gave two reds and a PK in his first match of the season. He also gave Valeri two yellows for dissent. For that he moves up a couple of spots. :)
12		Ricardo Salazar	-	Salazar averaged 5 yellow cards per match in 2016 through 4/26/16.
13		Edvin Jurisevic	-	Not a fan.
14		Drew Fischer	-	Yawn!
15		Juan Guzman	-5	The man in the middle for the Crew tomorrow in Seattle has averaged 6 yellow cards per match in 2016, the highest of any ref as of 4/26/16. Who will get sent off tomorrow?
16		Jorge Gonzalez	-5	Gonzalez is one of the "olde guard" MLS referees. Here's looking at you Petrescu and Toledo. These are refs that don't really seem to care and don't really want to improve. Last year, he claimed a handball hit a hip, and then later told the press he saw it but it wasn't deliberate! Just last week, he gave two yellows in quick succession for dissent to Brad Evans. Although I'm glad Brad is out against the Crew tomorrow, and he shouldn't have "given him an expletive," the arrogance of refusing to talk to a captain is jarring.
17		Alan Chapman	-1	He found himself removed by PRO from a scheduled match after giving De Jong only a yellow for his vicious tackle on Nagbe.
18		Robert Sibiga	-	He's received a few assignments since his first one at MAPFRE. Nothing stands out... which probably means he earned a higher spot on the chart. Hey, nobody said this system is perfect.
19		Sorin Stoica	-	His first assignment of the year comes tomorrow in NYC.
20		Hilario Grajeda	-	Grajeda finds himself getting a few assignments, but just like his colleague Marrufo, he missed a pretty obvious DOGSO red card. Peter Walton of PRO later said it was a PK because the foul advanced into the box. Obvious misses are not good.
21		Silviu Petrescu	-6	Again, I ask: Is he retired yet?
22		Fotis Bazakos	-6	As of 4/26/16, Bazakos was averaging 4.67 yellow cards per match for 2016... As in "If you don't know what you're doing, book 'em."
23		Jair Marrufo	-2	I was told I was unduly harsh on Marrufo. Well, too bad! I gave him a chance to redeem himself, but his arrogance and bad calls continue. Although I like when Vermes is upset, and I fully expected his rant to be about nothing last weekend... when I saw the play that was a no PK call, it was crazy. That was a DOGSO red, and a SFP/VC red. And a PK. No. Question. At. All. Referees are human, but how can they miss the obvious calls like that!?
24		Mathieu Bourdeau	N/A	Bourdeau made his first appearance as center ref in MLS in 2015 and recently saw action in 2016. He joins the chart for the first time and here's hoping to good calls to help him work his way up!

(All Photos credited to www.proreferees.com)