Replacement refs’ blown call helps Union steal a 1-1 tie at Kansas City

A blown call by replacement officials amid the lockout of unionized top-level referees led to Alejandro Bedoya’s late goal that stole a 1-1 tie for the Union at Sporting Kansas City on Saturday.

Remi Walter scored for the hosts in the 19th minute, and for almost the entire night it looked like that would be it.

But right as the minimum planned stoppage time of four minutes ended, referee Rafael Bonilla — one of the replacements for the locked-out top-level officials’ union — wrongly awarded the Union a throw-in after the ball bounced out off Mikael Uhre.

The Union went down the field and won a corner kick, and out of that Bedoya smashed in the equalizer.

Union manager Jim Curtin made no secret that he’d would shuffle the deck in a big way for his team’s fifth of eight games in 25 days. The sixth will be Tuesday, when Mexico’s Pachuca visits Subaru Park in the Concacaf Champions Cup round of 16 (7 p.m., broadcast TBD).

Quinn Sullivan and Chris Donovan started up front, which was unsurprising but still leaves one wondering what Tai Baribo has to do to get on the field.

Jeremy Rafanello took the attacking midfield role in his first big-league start, with Jesús Bueno, Jack McGlynn, and José Andrés Martínez behind him.

Nathan Harriel started at left back instead of right to spell Kai Wagner. That might have stung Matt Real, but Kansas City’s biggest wide attacking threat, Johnny Russell, came down that side of the field. Olivier Mbaizo started on the other flank.

The non-surprises came after that: Jack Elliott and Damion Lowe since they’re suspended for Tuesday, and Oliver Semmle in net.

While Rafanello was the biggest surprise among the starters, there was also a big one on the bench. Academy goalkeeper Andrew Rick was Semmle’s backup because the No. 3, Holden Trent, is heading to surgery for a fractured finger he suffered last year and tried to tough out.

A few minutes before his opener, Walter collided knee-to-knee with Martínez, and they shook hands after they both got up a bit gimpy. Things weren’t as cordial when Martínez slipped on the ball and appeared to tweak his right hamstring, giving Walter room to rip in a shot from 20 yards — with Semmle barely moving, a bad look.

Fortunately, Martínez was able to jog it off and return to the field.

The Union’s best chance of the first half came in the 42nd minute, when Jesús Bueno set up an open Quinn Sullivan for a shot that he finished. But Bueno collided with Kansas City’s Tim Leibold along the way, and replacement referee Rafael Bonilla called it a foul.

With the game still in reach, Curtin made a triple-substitution to start the second half: Bedoya for Martínez (moving Bueno to the base of midfield), Wagner for Mbaizo (moving Harriel to the right), and Dániel Gazdag for Rafanello. Twelve minutes later, Uhre replaced Donovan. Markus Anderson for Jack McGlynn in the 83rd minute was the Union’s last sub of the night, dropping Sullivan back to McGlynn’s midfield spot.

Before Bedoya’s goal, the highlight of the second half was in the 85th minute, when Leibold intercepted a Sullivan cross into Kansas City’s box and smashed the clearance off his own crossbar. A few inches lower and the Union would have had a gift of an equalizer.

As happy as Union fans may be with their team’s tie, they know they got it off a blown call.

But the blown call wasn’t the day’s biggest news league-wide. On Saturday morning, a fan who tracks referees’ work posted photos on X of the center official, Guiherme Ceretta, who was assigned to Inter Miami vs. Orlando City game, wearing one of last year’s Inter jerseys at a gathering with friends.

Though the date of the gathering is unknown, the Professional Referee Organization removed Ceretta from the game within three hours of the X post, declaring a conflict of interest.

The Miami-Orlando game was broadcast not just on Apple TV for free worldwide, but on Fox’s main over-the-air channel across the United States. It was the first time Fox’s broadcast network carried a Messi Miami game.

It was the second time replacement refs made big news over a Miami matter. On Thursday, an independent review panel organized to review officiating controversies rescinded a yellow card given to the Los Angeles Galaxy’s Mark Delgado last Sunday, after replacement ref Gabriele Ciampi fell for a dive by Inter star Sergio Busquets.

That was Delgado’s second booking of the game, so he was ejected. The call came in the 87th minute of a game the Galaxy led 1-0. Five minutes later, Messi scored an equalizer, and the game finished 1-1.

On Saturday, The Athletic reported that MLS executive vice president Nelson Rodríguez told the league’s board of governors in a memo that he was “pleased with the performance” of the replacement refs.

The brass presumably was also pleased with Saturday’s game. Messi had two goals and Luis Suárez had two goals and an assist in a 5-0 Miami rout.