Yeah, I was pretty bummed when poor officiating cost the Crew the MLS Cup in December. Glad to see they are trying to improve it.

The quality of reffing we see in the U.S. varies widely, with most center refs doing a mediocre job.  What I like about this article is that it acknowledges that it's a very difficult job.  Casual fans don't always appreciate that the center ref is charged with both monitoring 22 players simultaneously, plus keeping an eye on the ball and the sidelines.  And in a game with world class athletes occasionally running at breakneck speeds.  And trying to not impede play with the ref's phsical presence.

Plus there's an art to calling a game.  A good center ref sets a consistent tone as to what level of physicality he'll tolerate, what level of shirt-pulling, etc.  And that ref will instruct the players so all players have a sense of what he's watching out for.  In a well-called game, the center ref fades mostly into the background by about 15 minutes into the game.  And a good center ref will coordinate with his ARs on the theory that all data is good data.

I'm nearly always impressed when I see the refs in the EPL call a game.  I'll occasionally yell at the TV "how did he miss that?!?!" and then watch the replay and see that the call was very defensible or outright correct.  Their level of reffing is fantastic.

Compare that with high level travel soccer (h.s. level), and you see center refs that struggle with the most basic concepts of offsides, fouls, what is and isn't a handball, unsafe play, denial of a goal-scoring opportunity, etc. 

FWIW, there is a strong push in U.S. soccer to educate refs and bring them along from late middle school age.  Reffing a game can be really fun - it takes your mind off of the stresses of the day, and is a hell of a workout if the teams are competitive. 

Soccer officiating is a nearly impossible job.  What other sport leaves that much ground to cover and responsibility to one person?

I think that with improved visibility into the analysis process, there would be more fans content with decision making and error remediation.  I wish leagues would keep stats on refs and release them to the public.  Also, give us insight into these types of sit-downs so that we can see how these officials debate the merits of their calls and non-calls.