I think suspending him would be silly. Like I said in the Houston forum, it'd be a move that would only serve to make them feel better about themselves, since the damage was already done. At best, it MAY result in Toledo keeping an eye on Hainault if a similar situation arises next game, but I think it far more likely that, given our history with refs, we'll get one of our own ejected for being vaguely in the area of a Houston player who trips while making a run, instead.
I think it's only interesting if Taylor (who is the normal starter) can't play. Hainault was just filling in.
Honestly doesn't make a jack bit of difference to me what happens now. Unless they plan to take away a goal or make Houston play with 10 men in Game 2, which they obviously can't really do, but either of those would something approaching justice. Otherwise, just forget about it get the job done. Set the wrong, right, just like against Red Bull. You can cry and whine about it, or you can go out there and do something about it.
Goff updated to say that Hainault will not get suspended because somehow this is outside the disciplinary committee's purview. WTF. What a ********ing bush league. If we don't win, I hope we maim all of their players so they can't play a final at all. To be serious, if this were a DC United player, what are the odds that this would be reviewable? I guess Garber wants the Gals to have another home MLS Cup final. Hate MLS. Love United.
Look, I've already done the Making Laws Subjective bit, I really don't know what other half-wit sarcastic comments I can make. "May LA Succeed"? "More Like Salazar"? "More or Less Stupid"? Seriously, give Salazar a kick in the danglies and don't let him center for us for a long while...
First, the league coming out during the week and saying what was completely obvious to anyone watching the game, that the ref completely effed up the call and Hainault deserved Red, was about as hard to predict as what was going to happen to the Kitner kid on the raft during Jaws. The only thing the league could have added is that the sky is in fact blue and water is in fact wet. As far as a bush league, I agree that there are many examples of it. Giving a player a Red after the fact isn't one of them, IMHO. It would have simply made the Houston fans feel better and let the rest of the league point at DC and say "See, shut up now and play". Taylor is most likely to play, so the red would have no affect on the game itself. Unfortunately, the damage was done last week. As others have said, the only way to really make it better is for DC to come out, guns blazing, and put Houston away.
We hardly need this event to prove MLS is bush league. Every time Garber opens his mouth for example...
I don't know what good it would do to keep an eye on him - it wasn't a super vicious foul that made the non-call so bad, but rather the situation where the non-call occurred.
I'm just sayin', in the context of "hey, Hainault has proven he's willing to take down a player on a potential breakaway" the same way refs interpreted one CD9 dive as "any time a DC player goes down in the box, it's a dive" last year.
Really the best thing that could happen is that Hainult plays on Sunday and the ref gives him a red card for looking at him funny around minute 20. This would provide a sort of independent movie cute justice that doesn't ever exist in the real world.
He may have, but he can't count -- wasn't he the one that gave Prideaux two yellows in a game and didn't eject him?
At this point, it is elementary, the only that deserves a red card is Don Garber (I am somewhat surprised that KP has not shown his displeasure more openly the last few weeks).
Besides, the look on his face clearly says "wha...what am I doing out here? Why is it so dark? Why is everyone yelling? I can't see a damn thing! I sure wish I could find a light switch. And why am I carrying a rape whistle?"
I used to think the "tuck rule" was the biggest piece of bullshit I've ever heard. MLS has topped that twice in a week -- snow game and then Salazar's non-call.
Has this happened before? I figured Olsen might get a fine for criticism, but instead the league goes "yeah, he's right, sorry." Oh well, like all the other nonsense this year have to move on and try to focus on next match.