Sporting Kansas City Vs. Houston Dynamo Live, MLS Cup Playoffs 2011: Julio Cesar Sees Yellow

The first card of this Eastern Conference final goes to Julio Cesar as he is put into the book for a sloppy, late tackle. That has to be a bit of a worry for Sporting Kansas City, who are asking a lot of Cesar in this match. With Graham Zusi pushing as high as he is, Cesar has had to come into the center and make many of the tackle deep in the midfield. He's done so brilliantly thus far and has been Sporting's best player, but now he's going to have to do it with a yellow card. The threat of a second yellow card is there and there's almost an hour left in this one.

That it took so long for the first caution is a surprise. There are a ton of incredible athletes out there for both Sporting and the Houston Dynamo and with this match being played at a very fast pace, there have been several nearly bad tackles. At some point, one of those was going to connect and draw a card. There are certainly more cards in this one too.