As Vanni Sartini sat down to begin his post-game availability following the Vancouver Whitecaps’ 3-1 loss to St. Louis City SC on Saturday night you could tell right away that he was steaming mad and he had something to get off his chest.
The Whitecaps’ head coach was full of emotion as he obliterated MLS referee Sergii Boiko and called upon Major League Soccer to issue an apology in the form of a letter for Boiko’s performance.Â
“It’s hard to win when the other team has 12 men,” Sartini said in his opening remarks. “That’s the initial thought and if we don’t receive a letter from the league that apologizes for the shameful performance of the referee. It’s something that the league can do it, and should do it because it’s for the good of the league, because we export this product away and when there’s something that’s completely shameful, unfortunately shameful, because it looked like the referee was a player for them. It’s really hard to comment on the game.”
What was shameful about referee Boiko’s handling of the match?
“We didn’t have any foul,” Sartini said. “Every foul for them was there. It was always two different measurements, never the same. Jake (Nerwinski) should have been sent off. Management of the game was one way. Probably he had a bad day, I’m sorry for him, but if the league doesn’t recognize that, there’s a problem.”
#VWFC’s Vanni Sartini’s postgame comments on referee Sergii Boiko.#STLvVAN#AllforCITY#MLS pic.twitter.com/69a17uSfCT
— Har Journalist (@HarJournalist) May 29, 2023
Vancouver was whistled for 12 fouls, while St. Louis had 11.Â
St. Louis picked up three yellow cards, Vancouver had two.
Now that time has passed, and Sartini has had a chance to rewatch the match and reflect on what happened, has he walked back any of his post-game comments?Â
“I don’t want to talk about it. We look forward every time,” Sartini told reporters following training on Monday. “Of course after the game emotions run high. You can even say something in a way that it’s too heated, but you can’t go back in time, let’s go forward.”
MLS is expected to issue Sartini a fine for violating the league’s public criticism policy.Â
There is also the question of whether or not MLS could hand Sartini a suspension.Â
“I have no idea,” Sartini said. “Luckily my parents came yesterday to visit me for two weeks, so I’ll ask them to pay for dinner when we are out if the fine is going to be big.”
Any notion that Sartini’s post-game tirade was a calculated attempt to take the heat and focus off of goalkeeper Thomas Hasal doesn’t sit well with Sartini. While Hasal wasn’t at his best against St. Louis, Sartini rejects the idea that he was deflecting focus elsewhere.Â
“No, we never hide,” Sartini said. “I don’t think that getting the heat out of the player or (we were) protecting the player. I think we need to be honest. We want our player to grow, we want our player to be better, so we need to be honest when they make a mistake. We need to be very honest when everyone makes a mistake or everyone is doing well. We just want to be as transparent as we can in every comment that we make. Maybe I was too transparent last game, but it’s okay. I was a little bit too much pumped.”
Whitecaps players appear to be in full agreement with Sartini’s post-game comments, strongly supporting their head coach for sticking up for them.Â
#VWFC’s Ryan Gauld on Vanni’s postgame comments and the referee tonight.
“I’m guessing that I’ll agree with everything that he said. It’s some decisions that you can’t get your head around. I thought it was a clear foul on me. How Jake wasn’t sent off was ridiculous.”#MLS
— Har Journalist (@HarJournalist) May 28, 2023
“I think everybody was frustrated at what happened in the game,” Tristan Blackmon told reporters following training on Monday. “There’s a lot of ways you can go about it. It’s good to see that he felt our frustration in the game as well and he voiced that to the public. I think sometimes that’s very important to do.”
This is not the first time a Whitecaps head coach has been in hot water for a making  post-game comments regarding MLS officiating.
In 2021, Whitecaps head coach Marc Dos Santos was fined an undisclosed amount for violating the league’s public criticism policy.Â
The Whitecaps will return to the pitch for a pair of matches at BC Place this week when they host the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday and Sporting Kansas City on Saturday.
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