Toronto FC coach unhappy with non-penalty call

TORONTO (AP) — Toronto FC coach Ryan Nelsen had a lengthy exchange with the fourth official Saturday after his team failed to get a penalty call midway through the first half when striker Jeremy Brockie went down in the New York Red Bulls’ penalty box.

The Toronto manager was still shaking his head after the MLS match, which ended in a 0-0 draw.

“These decisions are game-changers, aren’t they?” Nelsen said. “They’re absolute game-changers.

“He stood on his foot,” Nelsen said of the Red Bulls defender. “It was so blatant. The whole crowd saw it.”

Nelsen said the official explanation for the non-call by referee Jorge Gonzalez was that Brockie “reached his foot back so he could get tripped over.”

“Jeremy Brockie’s an intelligent man, but I don’t think he’s got eyes in the back of his head,” Nelsen said.

“If he did that on purpose, I’d be amazed. Again I’d rather they’d just say ‘I made a mistake,’ than come up with an excuse like that.”

Brockie called the non-call “a stone-cold penalty.”

“I asked the ref about it and he said he clipped my ankle but there was no intent. Whatever that means.”