|
Posted by
,
March 22, 2017 |
|
Twitter
@HarJournalist
|
|
Read this on your iPhone/iPad or Android device
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
VANCOUVER, B.C - When you have more red cards on the season, than you do points, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know your team is in trouble. The 0-2-1 Whitecaps are floundering just three matches into the season. They're on pace for 12 points this campaign. Fans have been left seeing red, after David Ousted, and new addition Brek Shea, were sent packing for red card infractions in back to back MLS matches.
The 27 year-old, Shea was shooting his mouth off following a tackle on Toronto FC defender, Nick Hagglund. Shea was issued a yellow card for the tackle, and another yellow for dissent, from referee Ismail Elfath. Toronto then scored a pair of goals, and took the match 2-0.
"I thought we were having a very civil conversation," said Shea following training on Tuesday morning. "I'm not really understanding what that means, like I said... it doesn't matter whether I deserved it. It happened, and I let the team down."
He let the team, his teammates, and the fans down. Vancouver should have transfers remorse after acquiring Shea from Orlando City Soccer Club on February 25, for striker Giles Barnes. Shea let his frustration boil over, and it got the better of his emotions.
"I think as an athlete you get competitive and you want to win," said Shea. "I guess sometimes it gets the best of you. To let the team, and my teammates down like that, it's disappointing for me."
The Whitecaps need players who can stay on the field and avoid yellow and red cards. The Caps have allowed all five goals this season, when down a man. Playing 11 v 11, they have outscored the opposition two goals to zero. Vancouver have the biggest disciplinary issues in MLS, they don't need another wild player who will rack up the cautions.
"Obviously he swore at the ref, and he did swear," admitted Carl Robinson. "If that's what the league is ruling now, that if you swear at the referee, you get sent off. I've got nothing to complain about, he should of got sent off, but that needs to be made clear every week, with every player."
If Brek Shea is going to get sent off for telling a referee to **** Off!!! and then confirm what he said, when asked by the referee... why aren't more MLS player sent off for swearing at refs? Surely, Shea isn't the only one with a potty mouth.
If a player is sent off for cursing, so should the next, next, and next player. You can't just pick and choose which players to send off for dissent. That leaves too big of an impact on the match, when a ref cherry picks, who and what to dismiss players for.
Veteran, left-back, Jordan Harvey has been around MLS for quite a while. He has seen, and heard a lot of things, on and off the pitch. If referees are going to issue red cards for swearing, that might leave a noticeable mark on a match.
"If we were to actually record some of the stuff that is said on the field," said Harvey.
"Both sides, even during that game, I don't think we'd be finishing with enough players on the field. Looking back, we're going to have to learn from it, obviously we've got too many this season already. It's one of those, you kind of look back on... I guess things collided, maybe the referee took something personnel that wasn't intended. It's just unfortunate."
It's unfortunate because it turned the match on its head. Toronto FC don't need any extra incentive to score, and pick up a result on the road. Despite doing so with regularity, it's never easing playing with 10-men. Referee Ismail Elfath has soft skin, but also, Shea should of never let it get to that point. Take your yellow, and move on. Shea couldn't.
Elfath should have also issued a red card to Toronto FC caption, Michael Bradley in the 87' minute after an altercation of hand bags and insults. Designated players, making a high salary should be held by the same rules during a match. If Shea is running his mouth, and Bradley does the same... why isn't Michael Bradley tossed from the match?
There seems to be a double standard for marquee star players in MLS. Red Nation Online inquired, but as you can imagine. Whitecaps FC players didn't want to touch that topic.
"That's a question for the league," said Harvey. "Honestly, it's a tough one from our stand point to answer because we're on the bad end of it right now. At the same time, you see different things that happen throughout my career on the field. You look at this incident, and you're like wow, really... It's eye-opening, and it's something we can learn from moving forward."
"I don't want to say there's certain players", said Shea. "At times, people let things go, and other times they don't."
At the beginning of each and every season. There is a meeting for each club to go over the rules in Major League Soccer and how they will be enforced. Carl Robinson understands where referees are coming from, they have a difficult job, and don't get a lot of love. If a ref is going to call something one way, he has to do so for all players. There's no fine lines about it.
"They approached every club at the start of every year," said Robinson. "We sit in meetings that are supposedly an hour-long, ours took two and a half hours. Whether they made it clear, I'm not sure. If the tone is set by swearing at referees, and you get sent off. Which happened with Brek on Saturday, no problem. We'll respect that decision. He'll accept the red card, it won't happen again, I'll make sure my players don't swear, but you've got to do that for every player, every week. I hope that's the case now, not just Brek. I think there was other dissent cards over the weekend to other teams. They need to be clear with that, and we as managers need to be clear with our clubs."
It needs to be crystal clear. Swear at a referee, get a red card. Nothing about what type of curse word, or the tone in which it is said. If you swear, you get tossed. It's quite simple really, you wouldn't go to your place of work and swear at your boss. Don't do it on the pitch, it reflects poorly on you, the team, and people watching.
"I'm a competitive person, I haven't had a red card in a couple of years (May 24, 2015 at San Jose)," said Shea. "That's not who I am, I like to be competitive, and I want to win. I try my best to do that."
Shea will miss Vancouver's next match on Saturday, April 1 when the Los Angeles Galaxy visit the Whitecaps. He will hope to be given a clean slate going forward. It's not the best impression to give out after his first month with Vancouver. If he can improve and provide offence going forward, the Caps might just Brek even in the long run.
|