MLS Must Send Clear Signal In The Wake Of Steve Zakuani’s Injury

Colorado Rapids midfielder Brian Mullan is not known to be a dirty player; on the contrary, his reputation around the league has generally been a very favorable one. He's known as a high-effort player, not prone to giving up on pursuit of the ball easily but certainly not prone to recklessness. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone that follows the league closely that would express belief that he would ever show intent to injure an opponent. In general Mullan is seen as a hard-working, respectable MLS veteran, a solid player and stand-up man.

At least he was; the tackle that likely ended Steve Zakuani's season was the type that players seldom live down, and such a rash challenge is difficult to defend. Yet Mullan did make at least some attempt to justify the tackle, saying in his post game interview that "It’s a tackle that I’ve done hundreds of times and would probably do again." And in the estimation of Jeremiah Oshan of Sounder At Heart, that's precisely the problem.

Looking at the play in its full context, it looks even worse. Even discounting his state of mind (which looks pretty negative as he complains about no foul being called on Tyson Wahl), he clearly lines up Zakuani and goes in extremely hard. This is not just another challenge, it's the exact kind of challenge the league should be doing away with.