I figured he'd get an extra game. 2 seems unnecessary to me, but what he did is considered violent conduct on the field. It was stupid, period. Hamid? There is absolutely NO reason for him to get anything related to his tweets...he did not criticize the ref or the league. Although if Willis plays well Sunday, I'm not sure we'll see him on the field again this year. Now, Burch better get 3 games... As annoying as all this drama is, DCU has gone farther than most of us expected and we have some really young players getting the invaluable experience of playing in HUGE games...and learning how not to handle it (Najar, Hamid) as well as how to handle it (DeLeon, Kitchen). I mean, lets hear it for Kitchen...he has been immense and he's still teething...still got that big bulging baby head...a boy outplaying men.
And? He called out an announcer for being wrong. So what. Clearly he went bonkers on twitter. I have often commented that players are fools to do so, and it was even more foolish to do it while the game was still being played. But being extremely immature is not what you should get suspended by the league for. I'm not defending his actions as smart here. Let me make that clear. But saying that the player is a con and that the announcer missed the call (needs to check his eyes) is not reason to suspend a player. Again, Omar Gonzalez essentially RIPPED the refs for allowing guys like Lenhart to get away with what he gets away with. He bashed the way the game was called by the ref in a game that he had just played. He received ZERO punishment.
As Goff pointed out to someone on Twitter, Brek Shea got three games for kicking the ball at a ref. Two games for throwing it at one isn't shocking. I know we're all angry at MLS these days, but Andy is the one who screwed up here.
Actually, Najar's was for three total. Brek Shea's three game suspension included the automatic one that came at the time. Yes.
I'm no lawyer but Magee's ball is effectively identical to Najar's. A hard kick like Shea's is a different beast altogether. The precedent is Magee. As a matter of fact, Magee's hard overhand throw at Peterescu's head *should* be seen as worse than Najar's weak underhand throw. But I am not at all suggesting that Najar doesn't deserve an extra game off.
Did that guy from Hollywood United get suspended for the throwing the ball at the ref after the Etcheverry tribute match? That should be the precedent.
Young kid, small emotional mistake, no refs were seriously harmed or emotionally harmed. I could understand a two or three game suspension in the regular season, but anything more than one additional game in the post season is overkill.
Very disappointed. What's more disappointing is that you'd think the team would have a talk about discipline after the first leg, and then Hamid loses his head the very next game.
I see what Hamid did as saving a goal. Yeah, you don't want to get sent off, but in that situation, either the ball or the player is staying in front of you no matter what.
Ok I am over it! DC is being conspired against! I thought some here were a little over the top with the site switch. But this is ridiculous. In my conspiracy world: 1. SJ had zero chance of hosting the Cup final at Buck Shaw. Lenhart & Gonzalez both got a yellow for Fighting. When is that anything other than red? The gals get away with so many fouls that land most guys in the locker room early yet they get away with over and over and over again. Gonzo should be done for the year if it was truly for fighting. 2. Fairness is in the eye of the beholder. But throw out the home field advantage, schedule not one but two refs whose past history indicates a long match for DC, pay for 11 buses to an empty stadium in a storm and then when they get their, get cold, cancel the match. Finally when the selected cows lose, rewrite the rules and backdate the suspension for a key player so he misses two more matches. I mean, get real Garber. 3. A Vermes (top 5 finisher in fouls/min) coached team is going to rough you up. KC was big and physical. Yet Houston clipped, pulled, pushed and otherwise abused them and got away with it. Houston's talent is 35 years old. Will Brun a star ... please! They have namby pambies playing with helmuts so they don't get hurt, never mind they will use it against you if needed. I watched the MLS in the early days. But found myself going why am I paying major league prices to watch glorified college soccer. It was IMO a waste of money. I started up agai a few years back as I could see a vastly improved product. But now it seems that in search of just one more dollar, the MLS will change the rules. That my conspiracy so F**K U Garber! Where is Al Davis when you need him?
The only thing that defends najar was that he underhand threw the ball at the referee while turning around. I believe it suggests a lot less intent than the over the shoulder throw with some heat on it. If there is a precedent of the official getting hit with a ball, it has to be followed to protect whatever integrity the league has showed with DCU this year. Although, Brek Shea showed more intent than Najar. I re-enacted the throw with a smaller ball with 2 year old kids at about the same speed, they either dodged it or caught the ball. The only thing that helped Najar was that the referee did not go Central/South American on us and feign an injury.
An employee's free speech rights are severely constrained. When in private employment, as Hamid is, you have no right to express yourself in a way that brings disrespect on your employer. The only exceptions are various whistleblower protections that protect speech designed to protect the public, i.e. raising safety issues, reporting injuries in a timely and accurate manner. Calling out another employee and making fun of a third party (Martino) has no protection whatsoever.
I was at the game too and had a pretty good view of it. I have to say I agree that he probably did throw it at Marrufo, but if I was on a jury deciding it, there's no way I could say he was intending to throw it at him beyond a shadow of a doubt. I watched the replay a few times and I stand by my initial view. I suppose MLS Disciplinary Committee is has a standard somewhere between those two (or they just make it up as the go along). If he had missed by a few feet would he still have gotten 3 games?
Once you concede he threw the ball at Marrufo, you have established intent. The only thing left is whether or not the intentional act caused injury. If Andy had put Marrufo out of the game, Andy probably would not be playing until next July.
Very different situation (at least on the field... not taking the tweeting into account). Hamid got a red for denying a goal scoring chance. Its not anything close to the same type of "discipline" it seems you are talking about. Najar's problem was his reaction to a bad call. Hamid's problem is that he was the last player protecting the goal.
He threw the ball underhanded in the direction of where the foul was called. Players do that all of the time. If Maruffo was not chasing toward him, the ball does not him. Anyone who grew up playing Greek dodge in elementary school knows the difference.
I don't concede that he did it for sure. I said I thought he probably did it. Andy didn't throw it *anywhere* near hard enough to do any damage. If he had missed by a couple of feet you could easily argue that he was trying to get the ball back to where the foul occurred (pretty far from Najar and far from where the ref was). Remember if you watch, Andy spun around and threw as he was turning or just as he finished turning. I'm not trying to say the card was wrong, but given these circumstances 1-game would have been fair. 3 games seems excessive unless the DC was SURE about the intent.
This is awesome. I completely forgot about that. That dude went crazy. It was AWESOME. By the way, Alecko nearly killed a six-year-old kicking a ball at his head at the SoccerPlex and all he got was a guilty conscience.