Oooohhhh, what a harsh measure, and if he keeps this attitude, they will ban him from playing friendlies for life. But then again, this was on the US Open Cup, so not much you can really do to him outside of the Cup and Chicago needs him.
should we plan a pitch invasion the next time, so the Dynamo can be banned from the USOC for 2-years. i keed, i keed.
I think that this just doesn't cut it for his behavior. He is a part of the Chicago Fire team which was in the U.S. Open Cup as a representative of the MLS playing in a US Soccer tournament. After the "example" Garber made of Rico Clark's kick last season against Carlos Ruiz, I expect the MLS to live up to their "example" and fine him and suspend him for some games. The message that the MLS sends if they don't is that there are different standards for your standard MLS player as compared to a DP player. Garber made it completely clear at the 2008 MLS All-Star game that the MLS will continue to use Blanco as a marketing tool for the league yet they won't make him accountable for his actions and brush it under the rug. MLS, not US Soccer, was making the big deal about the footage being shown on the internet after the game. However, I suspect that the MLS will hide behind the excuse about the US Soccer rulings knowing that he as a 35 year old international player could give a toss about being banned from the US Open Cup tourney. They'll continue to market him like he's the best. He's a good player and behaved himself at the All-Star game, don't get me wrong, but his attitude generally stinks and consistently acts like a jerk. He should be treated with the same rulings as any other player in the MLS when they play as representatives of their MLS team.
oohhh big difference. that Rico kick was the worst thing i've seen/heard live in the 30 years i've been going to stadiums (sorry Rico, i love you man but that was bad). i was in the front row of the travelling SG section and was no more than 30-40 feet away of the incident. the first thing i did when i saw it is hold my head (from my angle it looked like Rico connected with Ruiz's head), said out loud "no Rico, no" and turned to the person next to me and said that's a minimum of 10 games. is Blanco a jack-ass? of course he is. does he deserve 10 games in MLS play? no way, this was a USOC game and the ruling federation/organizing body has to deal out the punishment. for example, Blanco was suspended by CONMEBOL games for starting the brawl with Sao Caetano in Copa Libertadores play (and rightfully so), but he played the following FMF game because FMF domestic play has nothing to do with Copa Libertadores play. remember being a tosser/culero/jackass shouldn't be a determining factor when dealing out punishment. hell my boss is all 3 of the above, but no one is going to suspend him. you suspend because of the incident and unfortunatley for our eRob because of priors.
what blanco did was just what players do to get the advantage on the ball. that is totally different from kicking someone while they are down on the ground. dont ya think???
Yes, but Blanco not only punched Simms, but tried to eye-gouge then later tried to head-butt an official when being sent off. I think that this also places Blanco in the going WAY too far column.
This is a bit of apples and oranges. Had both these incidents occured in the same competition, then you would have a valid point. What you are asking for would be the equivilant of the USSF or Concacaf banning Clark from USMNT play for an offence in a MLS game. IIRC Clark played some NT games while suspended from MLS. And Blanco will play MLS games while suspended form USOC. I am sure MLS is thanking its lucky stars the Blanco incident did not happen in a MLS game.
So by your own logic, if someone that plays in the MLS hits someone in the head with his elbow or kicks someone when he is on the ground in the Olympic games, then MLS should also punish them? If Zi Zou hadn´t retire after the World Cup should he have punish 1 or 2 games from La Liga? Dude, I just think you either hate Blanco or Mexican players to much. You get suspended from whatever tournament you are playing, even if it is sanction by the same federation, it is normal for players in other countries to get suspended from league play and keep playing in whatever cup or 2nd competition they have, or the other way around, unless you do something so bad, that FIFA bans you from any kind of competition, which has happened, then it doesn´t matter if you change leagues, you can´t play for a certain amount of time.
You know, I just read an article on Blanco on the Latino Sports Illustrated, and he was talking about how he isn't that bad-tempered. He says his passion just gets the best of him on the field, but outside the field he's supposedly friendly. Anyway, that sucks because he received the MVP for the All-Star game and I think he's repping a bad example for Fire.
, great to see he has a high opinion of himself, but unfortunately for him, his off the field bad temper has been recorded for everyone´s pleasure. The guy is a great player, but on the field and off the field he is an (insert your favorite derogative term)
Jumping in here because I saw this thread on the Big Soccer highlights. Have you guys also seen the announcement that the MLS is fined Blanco $7500 as well? From Steve Goff's Soccer Insider blog: [FONT=Times New Roman,times,serif] Yesterday, the U.S. Soccer Federation took action against Chicago's Cuauhtemoc Blanco for his behavior during a U.S. Open Cup match against D.C. United on July 8 at Maryland SoccerPlex. Today, it was MLS's turn. Sort of. The league announced that Blanco has been fined $7,500 for "behavior detrimental to the public image and reputation of the league." Said The Commish Don Garber: "Whenever MLS players participate in any competition or friendly match, they represent their club and the league and must conduct themselves in a professional manner on and off the field of play. We expect a very high standard of behavior from our players and we will hold them accountable for their actions." Blanco is due to earn $2.7 million this year. The fine is 0.0027 0.27 percent (or 1/360th) of his income. Essentially, one day's pay. The game was not televised, but United provided video taken on the sideline of Blanco allegedly headbutting an operations official after the Mexican star was red-carded. I continue to use the word "allegedly" because, unless the film is made public, we will not know for sure what occurred. Several eyewitnesses contended Blanco tried to headbutt the official, who has not granted any media interviews; the Fire says it was accidental contact and Blanco issued a vague apology. However, the severity of the USSF's sanctions (an Open Cup ban for at least two years) and the fact that MLS decided to address an incident that took place in a nonleague setting are clear indications that Blanco was out of line. [/FONT]
This is a different situation than you are suggesting. When the event happened, Blanco was playing for the Chicago Fire of the MLS. Therefore it is well within the rights of the MLS to punish him however they see fit. When a player plays for their national team, they are not playing for the MLS, the are playing for their national soccer federation. Then it is up to the federation to decide appropriate punishment for a given situation.
MLS and the USMNT are part of the same federation, "United States Soccer Federation". The Lamar Hunt Cup is organized by the USSF, not the MLS, hence, he was punished by the USSF in the Lamar Hunt Cup. If you tell me that it is up to the federation (USSF) to decide if Blanco needs a suspension also in MLS competitions even tough he was not playing an MLS sanctioned tournament, then by the same logic, the USSF can decide to punish any MLS player that was playing for the USSF organized National Team in the Olympics or World Cup because he was after all representing US Soccer and needs to be punished. But lets look at the other point you are trying to make, "Blanco was playing for the Chicago Fire of the MLS", lets say Chicago Fire is playing "Copa Sudamericana" and someone from the Chicago Fire hits a player that is already down, should MLS punish him because he was playing for an MLS team in a tournament that is not sanction by the MLS?, of course not, he will get a CONMEBOL punishment for games in Copa Libertadores.
I guess maybe I used "federation" inappropriately. My point is this, when a player is wearing an MLS uniform, the MLS can punish them however they see fit. If he is wearing his national team uniform, then his national team can punish him. If Rico were to snap again in a CCL game later this year (not that I think this would happen), I would expect a suspension and fine from both CONCACAF and MLS. If it happened in a WCQ game, I would expect punishment from CONCACAF or FIFA or whoever is in charge of that, as well the USMNT. It is all about who you are representing when you put on your uniform.
Apparently that is a point of view almost every federation in the world doesn´t share with you. Wrongdoings, aggressive behavior and other faults that have happened in Champions League, UEFA Cup, Copa Libertadores, Copa Sudamericana, etc, etc, etc, have been punished only in those competitions and not by individual leagues, even problems in tournamnts like "Copa del Rey" in Spain have never resulted in punishments in league competition. Having said that, if you hit a referee, then FIFA is the one that punishes you and then you get ban from any league that is part of FIFA.
disagree strongly. Rico did his time in MLS, no need for his national team to punish him. "i'm not a role model" - Charles Barkley
Just something else to discuss. I see both sides of the argument and I'm not really convinced one way or the other, but I figured this is an interesting way to look at it... If the NFL could suspend Pacman Jones for an entire year due to a series of events that had nothing at all to do with the NFL because they believe what he did harmed the image of the league and it's players, couldn't MLS use the same logic and suspend players who commit heinous acts on the field in an MLS Uniform even if it's not an MLS game? It obviously reflected poorly on the MLS! I know, I know, they're two different sports, but there never seemed to be too much of a public outcry over the way the NFL handled the Pacman Jones situation... This is a good question I think that stretches far beyond the incident with Blanco. Does a sports league have the right to discipline players for incidents off the field or during non-league play if they believe that the incident is harmful to the reputation of the league? I think it's a good question and I'm not sure where I side yet, even though I'm leaning toward the example set by the NFL.
Um, I think you missed the hypothetical part of my statement. I wasn't saying he should have been punished by the USMNT for the Ruiz incident. I was saying that IF it had happened in a national team game, then it would have been up to the USMNT to punish him for it, not MLS. Also, I am not talking about being a role model. I can have respect for a player's abilities on the field and not like them as a person. The opposite works as well. I can like a person off the field, and hate the way they play. In the end we are probably going to disagree on this. I feel that when a player is wearing a team's uniform, he falls under the jurisdiction of that team and the parent organization (ex. MLS). If the organization feels that a player deserves to be punished for a particular incident, it is their right to do so. That may not be the way it is in the rest of the world. I may be the only person in the world who feels that way. In the end, it doesn't matter. You can agree with me, or don't, that is your decision, and your right.