MONTREAL – Hassoun Camara did his mea culpa on Wednesday, four days after he and Steven Lenhart were shown red cards in the Impact’s 3-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes at Stade Saputo.
The Impact defender, who says Lenhart insulted him just before the altercation, recognized that he never shouldn’t have reacted the way he did, forcing referee Armando Villarreal to dismiss both players.
“There was a lot of stuff going on beforehand,” Camara told reporters. “Kids might listen to this, so … But insults like that, they don’t sit too well with me. It was odd, getting a blow to the head just like that, so my reaction really was instinctive. I'm sorry about it and I'll learn from it.”
While Camara did admit that he sincerely was not expecting to get a longer suspension than Lenhart’s, he simply wants to move on and says that there are lessons to be learned from this.
He also expressed surprise with the penalty call on the play, as he felt he was the victim of the initial offense. Montreal head coach Jesse Marsch, though, had an enlightening conversation with the assistant on the far side after the incident.
It appears that, as described by Professional Referee Organization general manager Peter Walton on ExtraTime Radio, the assistant raised his flag for an initial headbutt by Camara, which led to the penalty call.
“Then they would say that the ensuing plays with the two of them together is why they both got a red,” Marsch explained. “In the end, I actually think that the referees handled it pretty well. The only part is that Lenhart incites the play before Hassoun does the headbutt.”
Di Vaio cleared – again
This time, it’s really over. Italian prosecutor Stefano Palazzi's appeal against the acquittal of Marco Di Vaio earlier this month was rejected early on Wednesday morning.
The Italian striker, who had been accused of failing to disclose knowledge of an attempted sporting fraud during his time with Italian club Bologna, has once again escaped a potential one-year ban in what has been a complicated saga and can now concentrate on this Saturday’s game against D.C. United.
“I wasn’t easy for everyone, not completely understanding what was going on,” Di Vaio said. “It was a difficult time for me, but I‘m getting out of this stronger, so is my family, and I only want to play and, most of all, win."
