Monday MLS Breakdown: High-profile incidents force MLS into decisive disciplinary actions

Two large clubs and a prominent striker felt the wrath of MLS on what turned out to be a very expensive Friday afternoon.

MLS dished out $16,000 in fines for three separate transgressions involving D.C. United striker Charlie Davies, New York and Los Angeles.

Although all three incidents deal with separate and unique infractions on and off the field, they are linked by the fact that the prominence of the parties involved essentially forced the league to take significant disciplinary action in order uphold its regulations.

New simulation directive from Board of Governors leads to Davies' fine

D.C. United striker Charlie Davies procured the most discussed of the three fines after the Disciplinary Committee fined him $1,000 for his penalty-winning tumble in last Saturday's 1-1 draw at Real Salt Lake.

The punishment represented the Disciplinary Committee's first move to exercise new enforcement powers granted by the Board of Governors before the 2011 campaign started. MLS executive vice president Nelson Rodriguez told ExtraTime Radio on Friday that the league expanded the Disciplinary Committee's purview to punish obvious examples of simulation or embellishment.

“In general, it's a practice that we need to eradicate if we can, or at least mitigate,” Rodriguez said. “We need to take the right steps to do that.”

Davies' tumble presented an ideal chance for the Disciplinary Committee to act in this area because it clearly satisfied the lofty standard instituted by the Board of Governors. As discussed in Wednesday's Musings, the threshold for pursuing disciplinary measures against a player for obvious embellishment requires the Disciplinary Committee to be “unanimous in its view of the incident.”

In addition to those technical concerns, the practical implications made action palatable in this instance. Davies is a high-profile player with a growing reputation for going to ground too easily. His actions presented a clear-cut case of simulation with a direct outcome on the impact of the game. If the Committee did not act in this instance, it would have spurned a perfect precedent-setting opportunity and probably would have lost its credibility in this department moving forward.

The relatively heavy fine should serve as a means of warding off similarly blatant dives in the future, though the more fortunate forwards in the league probably wouldn't mind exchanging $1,000 for a penalty kick award. The question in the days and weeks ahead is whether the Davies punishment represents a one-off response to a high-profile situation or whether the Disciplinary Committee can or will interject on these matters on a consistent basis given the standard any such incident must meet.

(Note: Chicago winger Patrick Nyarko could present the Disciplinary Committee with yet another litmus test after his belated descent to the ground earned him a yellow card early in the second half of the Fire's 1-1 draw with New York on Sunday. Kevin Stott issued a yellow card to Nyarko on the scene, but the question is whether the Disciplinary Committee will see this particular instance as another opportunity to expand its brief in a nascent area of its powers. Unlike the Davies flop, this incident isn't nearly as cut and dried given the circumstances surrounding the dive, its relatively meaningless impact on the match and the on-field punishment.)

New York fine more of a function of form rather than content

New York incurred a $10,000 fine for the statement released by Red Bulls general manager Erik Soler in the wake of a series of controversial refereeing decisions in last Sunday's 3-3 draw at Portland. 

“The statement released by Red Bull New York this week undermines our substantial efforts to continue improving all aspects of our competition,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said in a press release.

The method of punishment – a club fine, not one personally ascribed to Soler – likely permitted Garber to increase the level of the fine and use this discipline to send a message to other teams about this type of statement. Although a $10,000 fine probably isn't substantive enough to deter every club in the league from following in New York's footsteps, it is likely dissuade most, if not all, teams from acting in this manner in the future.

By issuing the inevitable fine to New York, Garber finally drew a line under the rather unseemly incident in which no one came off looking particularly rosy.

Thierry Henry's petulance triggered the whole scenario, while referee Ricardo Salazar appeared particularly tone deaf in his game- and man-management duties for sending Henry off when a booking would have settled the matter without a problem. Soler and the New York organization issued a statement that ESPN pundit Alexi Lalas called “a raw, honest and emotional reaction that dripped of arrogance and a sense of entitlement.”

The on-field errors – Rodriguez noted Henry's role in the matter and said he understood why Salazar acted in the manner he did, but he also noted that the league would have liked to have seen the situation “managed a bit differently” – then placed Garber in the unenviable position of doling out a heavy fine for Soler's public truth-telling.

As Wednesday's Musings suggested, Garber had no choice but to act in the wake of the punishment issued to Portland coach John Spencer one week earlier and the sheer audacity of Soler's statement. He did just that, but the entire imbroglio didn't leave anyone with warm and fuzzy feelings when it ended or remove the persistent questions about the suspect quality of officiating in MLS.

Los Angeles prompts rare injury list enforcement measure with Beckham omission

MLS has rarely, if ever, taken meaningful steps to enforce the directive regarding injury reports. Clubs are required to submit injury reports twice per week (Tuesday and Friday) and those reports must be “as accurate as possible,” according to a league press release. It is not a standard that some clubs strive to meet on a regular basis.

(Note: It is also a somewhat flexible brief that does not necessarily encompass all omissions. Columbus left Danny O'Rourke (knee) off of its Tuesday injury report this week despite his presence on the club's Disabled List. Crew technical director Brian Bliss told the Columbus Dispatch that his absence represented an oversight on the part of the team's medical staff, though O'Rourke has returned to training and remains on the road to recovery. O'Rouke returned to the list on Friday and missed Sunday's 4-1 victory over Colorado.)

Los Angeles usually comes up first within league circles when searching for an example of a team willing to flout the injury list regulations. The Galaxy's week-to-week indifference elicited little scrutiny from the league office despite some fairly notable examples (see: Donovan, Landon) earlier this season, but it incurred a $5,000 fine on Friday for deliberately leaving David Beckham off of its injury report prior to last Saturday's 3-1 win at Colorado. 

Beckham's unexpected absence prompted significant and somewhat unexpected scrutiny – and at least a couple of withering newspaper columns – in Denver. It also represented yet another scenario in which the league needed to act upon a flagrant and high-profile violation in order to uphold the spirit of one of its directives.

It remains to be seen whether this particular fine will have any long-ranging ramifications. Beckham's injury status presents an unusual situation because of his impact at the gate and on the field. It is by no means certain whether leaving another player off the list would have prompted such punitive measures. The severity of the fine will no doubt give most teams pause as they fill out those reports, but the previous lack of enforcement indicates that the omission of a fringe starter or a key reserve may not elicit such an expensive rebuke.

At that point, is the competitive advantage gained by the omission worth taking the small risk of prompting a fine from the league? Many coaches would probably answer in the affirmative, but it remains to be seen whether clubs will amend their practices after this Beckham-inspired decision.

Five Points – Week 15

1. It's all about the number ones this weekend: The spotlight well and truly shined on the goalkeepers this weekend. There were blows taken (Conor Casey's tardy and thumping challenge on William Hesmer in Columbus' 4-1 win on Sunday night), injuries suffered (Donovan Ricketts and his undisclosed left forearm malady after a collision with Khari Stephenson in Los Angeles' 0-0 draw at San Jose), penalties conceded (Bill Hamid in D.C. United's 2-2 draw with Houston) and saves mangled (Bouna Coundoul's one-hop nightmare in New York's 1-1 draw at Chicago). And all of those incidents paled in comparison to the weird happenings at Buck Shaw Stadium...

2. Magee pitches second-half shutout as Galaxy salvages draw: Los Angeles forward Mike Magee played 47 minutes between the sticks as the Galaxy held out for a scoreless stalemate at San Jose. Josh Saunders came on for the injured Ricketts during the first half, but he earned a red card shortly before halftime after elbowing Steven Lenhart. Magee volunteered to hop in goal and somehow managed to keep the Earthquakes – an outfit that had hummed on all cylinders in the first half, but slagged off a bit in the second – at bay.

In a well-deserved karmic twist, Magee's alert work at the back post kept Lenhart – who prompted Saunders' ill-advised elbow by heading the ball out of his hands and secured the red card with a bit of histrionics after the blow landed – off the scoresheet in the late stages. Magee, by the way, racked up the most minutes ever played in goal by a field player in a single match, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

3. A breakthrough for Saborio?: Real Salt Lake striker Alvaro Saborio scored twice to pace the Claret-and-Cobalt to a 3-1 home win over Toronto FC on Saturday night. The two-goal haul represented a big step for the previously out-of-sorts Saborio, but RSL coach Jason Kreis will probably take greater note of Saborio's improved all-around performance. Saborio has struggled for form and health this season. If he can lead the line with aplomb and start producing in front of goal, he will provide the required thrust for a RSL side that has started to find itself over the past couple of weeks.

4. Record-setting day in Bridgeview: Joel Lindpere's tally five minutes before halftime allowed New York to set a new MLS record by scoring in the first half for a 13th consecutive match, according to ESPN. Chicago secured a league-record sixth home draw on the trot through Marco Pappa's bouncing second-half reply to ensure a ragged afternoon match ended all square.

5. Mullan's return a nightmare as Rapids get crushed in Columbus: Brian Mullan returned to the Colorado starting XI for the first time in ten matches after serving his lengthy ban, but the Rapids all but fell apart after scoring first to fall 4-1 at Crew Stadium. Casey scored his fourth goal in five games to give the Rapids the lead after five minutes, but Colorado subsequently let the lead slip with a series of uncharacteristically sloppy plays at the back. Columbus had already taken the lead through a pair of calamitous mistakes by the time Casey earned his red card for his tackle on Hesmer and tacked on another pair of goals to put the disheveled Rapids out of their misery early in the second half. Suffice it to say that Mullan's first match in quite some time won't be one to remember.

Kyle McCarthy writes the Monday MLS Breakdown and frequently writes opinion pieces during the week for Goal.com. He also covers the New England Revolution for the Boston Herald and MLSsoccer.com. Contact him with your questions or comments at kyle.mccarthy@goal.com and follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

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