I don’t envy the crew assigned to the USL game between the San Diego Loyal and Phoenix Rising. I didn’t envy them before the start of the game and definitely don’t envy them after what happened during the first half of the game. Soccer is a microcosm of the world that we live in and the same racism, fascism, homophobia and general lack of inclusiveness also plays out often during the 90 minutes on the pitch. I’ve had opportunities to officiate games in locations where known incidents of the sort have occurred in previous matches. Those are the games where your ears, eyes and legs are working at top speed because you just know all the players, coaches, fans and administrators are already on edge.
Since this happened at the USL level and not MLS in the United States you don’t have the NFL style field microphones all over the field. VAR is not being used, so you likely only have a mid-field camera to review footage. What is interesting is that US Soccer assigned a PRO 4th official! That is very rare for USL.