It's Groundhog Day. I mean, weren’t we just here? Didn’t we just go through all this?
MLS disciplinary committee: on the hot seat again
Alas, it’s a case of “rinse, spit, repeat.” And in this case, it’s a bitter, bitter mouthwash.
Javier Morales fell beneath the unwise tackle of Chivas USA’s Marcos Mondaini on Saturday. Now, Real Salt Lake must move forward without its talented midfield playmaker for months. Michael Lewis, who covers the team as well as any beat writer covers any MLS side, suggested in this article that players are already resigned to coping without Morales for the entire season. And that is some damn sad resignation.
So later this week, Major League Soccer’s five-person disciplinary committee will render a verdict on Mondaini. Brian Mullan is serving a 10-game suspension for his terrible tackle on Steve Zakuani. The league needed to make an example. (So much for the doctrine of effective deterrent, eh?)
Of course, the danger in Mullan’s 10-game suspension was the precedent. We all whispered under our breaths something like this: “Uh, what if the same thing happens next week? What then?”
Well, here we are. Unfortunately. So what does MLS do now? Read on ...
My guess: the disciplinary committee will consider two mitigating factors: Mondaini is mostly an offensive player, whose tackle was clumsy and poor but perhaps not malicious. And they will consider that it wasn’t executed with the violent aggression of Mullan’s. Even Kreis said afterward that the tackle wasn’t among the worst he’s seen.
Honestly, Mondaini’s tackle was closer to the one from Jonathan Leathers that broke David Ferreira’s ankle. Leathers wasn’t even carded for that tackle from behind. (It wasn’t even a foul.)
MLS is in a tough spot here. They absolutely have to increase the peace on the field and police these bad tackles. On the other hand, Mondaini’s tackle wasn’t nearly as bad as Mullan’s. So … what say you, disciplinary committee?
Best guess: five games. We’ll see.
See More:
