Major League Soccer

D.C. United's Prideaux is suspended for phantom red card.

Brandon Prideaux was suspended for one game for the red card he did not receive in D.C. United's 3-1 defeat of the Dallas Burn. -- D.C. United web site photo --

By Gary Davidson
SoccerTimes

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Friday, July 4, 2003) -- D.C. United coach Ray Hudson has been known to offer colorful opinions on a wealth of subjects, but he wasn't talking this morning about defender Brandon Prideaux's suspension.

"I'm not commenting," Hudson said after a practice session. "I'm not saying anything."

Prideaux was issued two yellow cards in Wednesday's 3-1 victory over the Dallas Burn, but because of an error by referee Jair Marrufo was not sent off. Major League Soccer, after its disciplinary committee reviewed films, issued Prideaux a one-game suspension and $250 fine, the equivalent of a red-card penalty.

I'd rather not say anything," Prideaux said. "The league has suspended me for a game and I'm accepting that. That's the way it goes."

While Hudson might rue being without Prideaux for Saturday afternoon's home match against the MetroStars, he must be privately pleased that he did not lose the defender's services for the closing minutes in Dallas Wednesday.

Prideaux was first cautioned in the 63rd minute for a tackle from behind that took down Burn forward Ronald Cerritos. Eleven minutes later, Prideaux and Dallas striker Jason Kreis got tangled up and jostled each other as they fell to the ground in the Dallas penalty area. After regaining their feet, Prideaux shoved Kreis who went back to the turf. Marrufo signaled a penalty kick and showed Prideaux another yellow card.

Kreis displayed two fingers to Prideaux, expecting the second yellow meant the United stalwart was heading for the lockerroom. But Marrufo did not eject Prideaux because he mistakenly booked midfielder Brian Namoff for Prideaux's first offense.

With Kreis nailing the penalty kick to tie the score at 1-1, Dallas should have played with a man advantage for the final 16 minutes of regulation. Instead, at even strength, United rallied, and received goals by midfielder Dema Kovalenko in the 78th minute and striker Hristo Stoitchkov on a 38-yard free kick 10 minutes later for the rare road triumph.

"If there was ever a case of mistaken identity, that was it," MLS press officer Alan Plum said.

United won for the first time on the road this season and is 2-14-5 away from RFK Stadium since Hudson took the reins in 2002. The bad-luck Burn is 2-7-3 overall in 2003 with nine points, tied for worst in MLS.

"You could look at the (Burn) and say the way the team was playing, it didn't deserve to win," Dallas media relations director Chris Ward said. "The fact of the matter is it's a 1-1 game. Dallas had just scored a goal to get back in it and maybe get a little momentum. If (United) is going a man down, anything could happen at that point."

After the game was restarted, play was stopped shortly when the referee met with fourth official Jasen Anno, Hudson and agitated Burn coach Mike Jeffries, but Marrufo did not change his ruling. Jeffries said he "didn't understand the (referee's) explanation."

"I didn't know what was going on with the PK and everything. It was a mess," Prideaux said. "I don't think anybody really knew. Our attention was on the PK and what was going to happen after that."

After the match, Marrufo violated MLS policy by refusing to answer questions of a pool reporter.

MLS referees are managed and rated by the United States Soccer Federation. An USSF assessor is assigned to every league match to provide a detailed analysis of the game officials.

The USSF handles discipline of MLS officials. If a referee receives two failing grades in these assessments, he is suspended indefinitely, as was the case with Noel Kenny last year, Plum said. However, an official can be penalized for a problem in one match, should the situation require it, Plum added.

The USSF is expected to make an announcement Monday regarding Marrufo's performance and any discipline it determine's appropriate.

MLS amended Marrufo's referee's report and the game's box score to be consistent with its findings.

Gary Davidson is managing editor of SocccerTimes and can be e-mailed at editor@soccertimes.com.