FRISCO, Texas – Blas Pérez will not face any additional suspension for the elbow to Seattle’s Leo González beyond the standard one-match ban for a red card. FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman isn’t convinced it should have been a red at all.
“The thing that concerns me is the referee was six yards away and he called play on,” Hyndman told MLSsoccer.com after Wednesday’s practice. “He saw everything and he said play on. Then, when he saw the blood, that’s when [he thought], ‘Wow, he must have thrown an elbow,’ and that concerns me.”
Hyndman went on to elaborate with his reaction to the play.
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“It’s really a peculiar call because you never see anybody jump up with their arms at their side. It’s a natural movement to always bring your arms up for not only balance, but it’s also a little bit of protection. Where it becomes dangerous is where you take that elbow and start to swing it at people. There was no intent or swinging of the elbow. It was a high raise. If anything, I think González came under [Blas’] arm and kind of ran into the elbow.”
The Dallas gaffer stopped short of criticizing referee Mark Geiger’s decision to eject Pérez with a straight red, but said that the decision from the Disciplinary Committee was telling.
“They have come back and said that there will be no additional penalty, which means: If there was an [intentional] elbow, there would be another game suspension. Since there is no [additional] game of suspension, the disciplinary committee – I can’t speak for them – I don’t think they looked at it as, ‘Wow, that should have been a red card,’” Hyndman explained.
Pérez has chosen not to discuss the incident with the media.
