MLS has made a point of telling their referees to not be afraid to issue red cards for dangerous play such as going studs up and making two footed tackles on other players. This move has caused many to receive red cards that may or may not be deserved but the intent is to take that part of the game out and if things go a bit overboard, it may be an unintended result for the future of the league.
Last night, the referee crew headed by Allen Chapman for the LA Galaxy/Portland Timbers game apparently slept through this meeting because LA Galaxy’s Nigel de Jong got away with a pretty egregious foul on Darlington Nagbe. When it seemed like any and every player over the past month was seeing red, de Jong received a yellow card for putting a foot on Nagbe’s ankle, turning it to a cringeworthy angle. Nagbe had to be stretchered off, couldn’t put any weight down on his ankle and according to FS1’s Julie Stewart-Binks, had to leave the field after the game in a wheelchair.
Here’s a GIF of the foul in question. Be warned because it gets pretty graphic.
Just a yellow. (Nagbe stretchered off) #LAvPOR #MLS pic.twitter.com/4qnlQiZqmY
— Ben Jata (@Ben_Jata) April 11, 2016
It looks even worse when you see a still picture of the play. I won’t post the image but I’ll link to the pic. Be warned as well because it too is pretty graphic.
De Jong responded to the play in a team postgame interview. De Jong said,
“I think in a game like this, it’s never any intention to hurt somebody. As well with my foul, I apologized to the kid. I mean, he’s a great kid but it’s not my intention to foul him.” “It was a 50/50 and I went over the ball instead of on the ball. I catch the ball a little bit but also his ankle unfortunately and hope it’s not too bad.”
That may be believable if this was de Jong’s first time doing this but this isn’t the first time de Jong has been the target of dirty play. In 2010, he broke Stuart Holden’s leg and while Holden rehabbed and came back for the World Cup, his career was never the same after.
Oh, and he also did this to Xabi Alonso at the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final
https://twitter.com/footballscrolls/status/659043955279921152
Ironically, de Jong came up to Holden before the game for the first time since the play and apologized. According to Holden, this was what was said as well as his reaction to the Nagbe play.
👏🏼👏🏼 @stuholden pic.twitter.com/eDVUBWVlNQ
— Spooky Soto 👻 (@LindsayAdaire) April 11, 2016
De Jong’s play and subsequent leniency of the referees caused a storm of turmoil on social media, including a spat between both teams Twitter accounts.
@TimbersFC Merritt? Is this you?
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) April 11, 2016
@LAGalaxy Sorry we don't find signing dirty players funny. But have at it.
— Portland Timbers (@TimbersFC) April 11, 2016
Despite what did or didn’t happen, this is another example of MLS referees doing a terrible job at running the game. It’s unrealistic to believe any referee to be perfect but it seems like the outcomes of at least 1-2 games are ruined every week because of a terrible call. This isn’t about someone making a mistake, this is about sheer incompetence. And if that means replay and/or more technology, more training or replacing refs, something needs to change because the current status quo of referee performance is a black eye on MLS and that’s been the case for years.
De Jong’s red wouldn’t have made Nagbe’s injury any different after the fact, but it probably would have resulted in a better chance for Portland to hold onto a win over LA. MLS’ Disciplinary Committee has the power to retroactively suspend someone (and hopefully they do that with de Jong) but it doesn’t help Portland who won’t be playing LA until July, will likely lose Nagbe for the foreseeable future and lost out on three points by still having to play an 11 man Galaxy squad.
As far as how to remedy the situation, that can go in many different directions. One idea, albeit a bit tough to enforce is if a player commits a suspension worthy play that results in the other player getting injured, that player should be suspended for however long the injured player is out and both come back at the same time. If Nagbe has a broken ankle and is out for six weeks, de Jong should be suspended for six weeks. It may be extreme given the current rule but it would be pretty effective at taking plays like that out of MLS.
Otherwise, things could get even worse. Even though Nigel de Jong has injured some players in his career, I wouldn’t want to see him (or anyone for that matter) get injured. If MLS and their referees are going to be lenient on behavior like this, it could cause a player to have to take matters in his own hands and do something similar on de Jong or someone else. The last thing MLS wants is to open “Pandora’s Box” and players start injuring each other as a way of policing when they feel referees aren’t doing their job.
I don’t think that is going to be the case anytime soon but if MLS is really serious about keeping this out of the league, they need to drop the hammer on Nigel de Jong. MLS and the LA Galaxy knew what they were getting when de Jong came into the league and like teachers toward a schoolyard bully, need to send a message before someone else decides to take it upon himself to send a message. And that’s the last thing anybody needs.
