Montréal Impact defender Nelson Rivas suspended two additional games for headbutting Philadelphia Union forward Antoine Hoppenot
Major League Soccer's disciplinary committee has delivered its verdict on Montréal Impact defender Nelson Rivas' headbutt of Union forward Antoine Hoppenot this past Saturday.
Montréal Impact defender Nelson Rivas suspended two additional games for headbutting Philadelphia Union forward Antoine Hoppenot
Jonathan Tannenwald
Major League Soccer's disciplinary committee has delivered its verdict on Montréal Impact defender Nelson Rivas' headbutt of Union forward Antoine Hoppenot this past Saturday.
The punishment is not as stiff as many expected.
Rivas will sit for two additional games on top of the red card he received in the wake of the incident, and he has been fined an undisclosed amount (as is always the case when MLS players are fined by the league).
There was no additional punishment haded to Union forward Jack McInerney for his relatiatory shove of Rivas. Nor was Hoppenot punished for the initial contact that took him and Rivas to the turf.
You can watch the sequence of incidents here.
Among the most prominent reactions to the news across the league was this tweet from top MLS agent Ron Waxman:
MLS Disc Comm is a joke. Suspends Rivas only 2 additional games for vicious headbutt. Same as Petke got a few years ago for words with ref.
Personally, I was expecting a three-game additional suspension instead of two games. I can certainly understand fans who are frustrated.
That said, it is worth noting that the last time there was a headbutting incident in MLS, the league also handed down a two-additional-game suspension.
It happened last year, when Real Salt Lake's Kyle Beckerman did the honors to the Chicago Fire's Daniel Paladini. You can watch the incident here.
Simply absurd, and to take that long to reach such a ridiculous decision? It seems to me that the small-u union, the players' association, should want to protect their members from assaults like that as well. I know that these are not players making typical major-league salaries, but the union has the obligation to protect their membership. If Hop was lost to concussion as he could have been, Rivas' boneheaded action, pun intended, would have cost three players time, and Hop potentially more due to injury.— new commentator
Reach Jonathan at jtannenwald@phillynews.com or 215-854-2330.
