and others it does not.
Sometimes when a team is a man down everyone raises their individual effort and the team plays as if no one was missing. With the Galaxy, we played Chicago away once and took a red card to Ezra Hendrickson right before halftime. We were down 1-0. The team was very motivated and angry at halftime and with Simon Elliott and Carlos Ruiz leading the way we scored two goals in the second half to win the game. It was all extra effort and mentality.
The position of the player who gets ejected often necessitates a substitution. The most obvious one is the goalkeeper being red carded, which forces a coach to take off a field player. If a defender or defensive midfielder gets tossed that also usually necessitates a change. That is another aspect the coach needs to look at and who he takes out is a tough call. It often becomes one of the forwards or an attacking midfielder, either centrally or wide. That's because early in the game you want to secure the fort and later you might make a different change. If losing late in the game, you would leave your attackers on and play even in the back.
The other side of the equation is that often the team with a man up sees their play drop. Subconsciously everyone thinks it will be easier now. There is one less opponent so players become comfortable zoning on defense. When you combine this with a raised effort by the opposition, the game often runs different then you expect. The mind is a wonderfully powerful tool.
The preferred option is to always play without a red card. If it happens you want it to be the other team. But if it is your team, preparation is key. Think it through, train on it at times in practice so your team has an idea. Train on playing short and a man up. Good preparation usually makes you luckier.
Sigi Schmid is one of the winningest coaches in MLS history, having led the Los Angeles Galaxy to four honors in his five-plus years at the helm, including the 2002 MLS Cup championship. Send comments to Sigi at sigischmid@hotmail.com. Views and opinions expressed in this column views and opinions are the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
