Vancouver Whitecaps Vs. New England Revolution: 10-Man Revolution Tie 9-Man Whitecaps, 1-1

As it is in every league around the world, taking your shirt off in MLS is supposed to be an automatic yellow. It doesn’t matter if you are wearing another shirt underneath, as Hassli apparently thought was such a clever way to get around the penalty. Maybe there was something lost in the translation, but Hassli is also claiming he didn’t know about the rule, which is pretty hard to believe.

Making the expulsion particularly guffaw-worthy is that the Whitecaps were already down to 10 men. You can certainly argue that referee Baldemero Toledo could have used some discretion and not issued the card for something that ultimately was not that big of a deal. But if I’m Toledo, I show Hassli red on principal alone. It was just a dumb thing to do and he deserved to be punished.

Despite being two men up for about 20 minutes and playing a man up for the entire second half, the Revolution were unable to break through for a goal until Stolica was able to pounce on a free ball inside the six-yard box. The Revolution are now undefeated through four matches, having claimed six points and three ties. The Revolution have not looked particularly good in any of their matches.

The Whitecaps, though, didn’t do themselves many favors. Gershon Koffie’s straight red in the 44th minute was probably deserved, as was Eric Hassli’s first yellow card, let alone his second when he amazingly took off his shirt while celebrating his goal that gave the Whitecaps a 1-0 lead. Despite being a man down, the Whitecaps continued to play surprisingly well as the Revolution seemed reluctant to push the action.

Whitecaps starters: Nolly; Leathers, Boxall, Rochat, Wagner; Knight, Dunfield, Koffie, Khalfan; Harris, Camilo.

Revolution starters: Shuttleworth - Alston, Cochrane, Soares, Domi - Phelan, Joseph, McCarthy - Boggs, Schilawski, Nyassi

Be sure to check out both New England and Vancouver blogs here at SB Nation for full coverage of tonight’s game.