Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Costly cards

A one-minute span late in Saturday's Galaxy-Rapids match was costly in terms of red cards and injury. Now, the league has slapped a true value on the flurry of action.

Abel Xavier was sent off in the 89th minute after arguing with referee Abbey Okulaja. He was fined $750 for excessive dissnet and $250 for failure to leave the field. Also, he was fined an additional $250 for post-game public criticism of officiating. Aside from the automatic $250 fine a red card carries and the automatic $100 fine for a yellow card, Xavier was fined a total of $1,600.

Ciaran O'Brien, meanwhile, took out Carlos Ruiz with a viscous tackle moments later. He was sent off ($250) and fined an additional $250. Also, he was suspended for an additional game, which means he must sit out the Rapids' next two games.

Ruiz, meanwhile, is out six weeks with an injured knee.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Xavier then pulled a roll of 100s out of his pocket, counted off 20, and paid the fine.
"Keep the change," he said.

O'Brien, meanwhile, is in negotiations to move in with his mom.
"I can't make rent now," he reportedly said.

Anonymous said...

Xavier was fined for public post-game criticism of the refs? That's a @#%ing disgrace! ;-)

kevin n. said...

Wow when you hand out 250 dollar fines, it really makes your league look second rate. Maybe suspensions are more of the way to go.

nothingtoseehere said...

Does MLS release the details of Gen. Adidas contracts? I wonder how much O'Brien is losing because they're not much better than dev. contracts.

Joseph D'Hippolito said...

Xavier is damn lucky he's still in the league (but for how long?). Even w/o the red cards and dissent, he is a disaster in central defense. My grandparents are better central defenders than he is right now, and they're dead!