Association Football XXXIV - playing with the wrong shaped ball

[Spockydog]

I'm not convinced he could have jumped over him. At what point did everyone decide that every 'stamp' is a deliberate action?

You're right, nobody knows for sure whether he intended it or not. But it doesn't look good at all. And let's not forget that we're talking about a professional athlete with pretty good reflexes, and it's not as if de Gea came hurtling out of nowhere at 70 miles-per-hour. And anyone who's played football (or ran for a fecking bus) knows that it's not actually that difficult to put your feet where you intend to.

And you're making facts up there - we don't know what the referee would have done if he saw it, only what a panel of extra referees said they'd do in that situation (which apparently is read Skrtel's mind.)

Okay, let me rephrase... The fact is, the referee would should have issued a red card had he seen it. That is enough to get him the ban.

Better?

[Spockydog]

FWIW, I didn't really think they were going to charge Skrtel - for precisely the reason stated above.

While both incidents were quite similar, were it not for Costa being bang to rights over the Can stamp, they might have done him for the one on Skrtel.

From an Arsenal perspective, I hope they do him. But I'm sure Liverpool will point to the Costa incident during the hearing, and there's every chance Skrtel will get away with it be exonerated.

[Nas!]

so wednesday mls and minnesota united fc owner have a pretty big announcement.

clearly they will be saying minnesota is coming to mls next year.

not sure how i feel about adding another team (and likely one more to keep the numbers even) so quickly after bringing orlando and nycfc to the league. the fear is obviously a watering down of the talent pool.

While they are at it, they ought to consider Canadians playing in the US to be domestic players. It's a bit of an insult, really.

Eta: seriously, though, the league is going to have to loosen salary cap restrictions and foreign player quotas to make this work. Four more clubs in 5 years is too much.