Galaxy Catches a Possible Break
The last thing the Colorado Rapids needed coming into a potentially difficult game against the Galaxy at the Home Depot Center this evening was to lose their best open-field player.
That’s what happened, however, when Major League Soccer handed defensive midfielder and U.S. national team starter Pablo Mastroeni a two-game suspension and a $1,000 fine Wednesday for a foul he said he did not commit.
The incident in question occurred April 30, when the Rapids’ 12-game unbeaten streak at home came to a crashing end in a 3-1 loss to the previously winless MetroStars in Denver.
Two minutes from the end, the MetroStars earned a corner kick. On the play, forward Abbe Ibrahim, an 18-year-old rookie from Togo, grabbed Mastroeni’s jersey, slowing him down, and Mastroeni twice threw back his arm to brush off Ibrahim.
Referee Ricardo Salazar did not call a foul or issue even a yellow card. But the league’s disciplinary committee reviewed the play and cited Mastroeni for what it called “violent conduct.”
The 2002 World Cup veteran was unimpressed.
“It was an inadvertent elbow, not even an elbow -- I hit him with my forearm,” Mastroeni told the Rocky Mountain News. “It was so light that I didn’t even know that I made contact with him. I was simply trying to move his arm off my shoulder, twice.
“The second time, that forearm could have hit him in the chest, hit him in the shoulders. It just happened to hit him in the face.... I think those kinds of plays happen, a dime a dozen, while a corner kick is taking place.”
Mastroeni, 28, appealed against the fine and suspension, but both were upheld. He will sit out today’s game against the Galaxy and next weekend’s game against Chivas USA in Denver.
What that means is that Landon Donovan probably will go up against the comparatively inexperienced Kyle Beckerman, 23, rather than against the vastly experienced Mastroeni, and that could spell more trouble for already troubled Colorado.
The Rapids are next to last in the Western Conference. The Galaxy has won three in a row, has outscored its opponents, 8-4, and has a 60-25 edge in overall shots and 31-14 in shots on target.
GALAXY TODAY
vs. Colorado, 5 p.m., FSN West
Site -- Home Depot Center.
Radio -- 830, 1540.
Records -- Galaxy 3-1, Rapids 1-3-1.
Record vs Rapids (2004) -- 1-0-3.
Update -- Galaxy forward Joseph Ngwenya will sit out his second game in a row after flying home to Zimbabwe following the death of his grandmother. The team also will be without injured forward Alan Gordon (hip strain) and midfielder Josh Gardner (left foot sprain).
Tickets -- (877) 342-5299.
