After Rafa Marquez' latest act of misconduct, the consensus question seems to be not if MLS' Disciplinary Committee will suspend the New York Red Bulls Designated Player, but how for long?
Marquez' much-publicized, off-ball, NFL-style tackle and kick to San Jose Earthquakes winger Shea Salinas resulted in Salinas breaking his clavicle, and he is set to undergo surgery and miss the next 6-to-8 weeks, according to the Earthquakes.
The egregious nature of the tackle combined with Marquez' shaky reputation and MLS' hardened stance on violent misconduct means that the Mexican international is most definitely in for a ban. The only debate seems to center around the length. Considering it was off the ball, reeked of malicious intent and severely injured a player, should the actions warrant a ban as long as Brian Mullan's unprecedented 10-game suspension for his tackle that broke Steve Zakuani's leg? Should it be treated as any other retroactively disciplined play has this year and yield a one-game suspension, akin to the play warranting a red card? Would it be appropriate if MLS found middle ground and issued a multi-game suspension instead?
How long do you think Marquez should be suspended? Cast your vote after the jump:
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How did you vote? What do you think would be the proper punishment for Marquez?
Share your thoughts below.
well played sir!
wrong
has to do with his repeated offenses over and over and over again, his lack of respect displayed repeatedly, and his history on this speaks volumes for itself
not some racial tone as you suggest
your comparing him to LD is ridiculous and reveals your own bias. try the mirror to see who is kidding whom
8 games
Severe foul. Suspend Marquez. Give same to ref for not catching this. Unforgivable on the ref’s part
Ha! This is a joke right? He held onto him and they fell to the ground. It wasn’t a tackle so much as a drag. Bad luck on the break but a suspension for this? Please.
Reputation should not come into play, but continuation of similar incidents should. Since his past shows it in the league (not taking any other source), he is liable for more punishment. Also I do not buy that just because everyone else does something it should not be punished. Just because everyone does it does not make it wrong (by the rules it is). Thus it should be punished.
Give whatever has been the longest suspension this year in the MLS and forget about it.
39% voted for 10 games. Most have commented on the “intent” but really that is subjective…the only person who know if they wanted to hurt Salinas is Rafa. Christ. The refs that miss all these calls, do they face any punishment? Rafa should get 3 games and fined (because of the stamp not the two-armed tackle), same with the ref. The player reputation shouldn’t really come into play imo. Also, I really hope these suspensions don’t go overboard, it shouldn’t be an every week occurrence.
So you’re saying he’s been doing this crap for at least 10 years!? Get the bum out of the league.
To quote Ellen Ripley:
Don’t you have any idea what you have done here?! Well, I’m going to make sure that they nail you right to the wall for this!
You’re not going to sleaze your way out of this one! Right to the wall!
I have to agree with this. It was a foul to be sure, but it didn’t look so bad. The injury came because they fell so awkwardly. In fact, I’d guess Marquez never intended to take him down, and the reason he kicked Salinas was probably because he was pissed at what he saw as a dive by Salinas. Either that, or he’s a complete a-bole.
I was going to write the same thing, but my laptop battery quit.
Donovan would not have done this. Also, I’d guess Marquez and Donovan are of the same race — European/Caucasian.
Mexican certainly isn’t a race, as anyone who knows anything about the racism prevalent in Mexican society would know.
Who are these delusional 4% and who gave them Internet access?
MLS should terminate his contract. Surely there must be some clause or loophole where they can do that without having to eat his salary.
who is Benitez?
maybe he was trying to show his infatuation/love for Salinas by repeatedly rubbing from behind!!!!!
For the season so we can finally see Dax and Palsson play together and we can then get a DP Center Mid
By a long time. From the thumbs. For being a jerkface.
I voted 10, but think it should be the rest of the season. If Brian Mullan was given 10 games, then this should be more. While Mullan’s was reckless, his intention was not to injure. I don’t think you could argue the same for this action.
I agree plus the referee was letting this behavior go. Like Marquez or not, he was playing tough physical football, typical in the MLS (and a trait lacking in the Red Bulls generally). It sucks that a player got hurt, but the Marquez witch-hunt is over the top.
7-8
I’m surprised no one has suggested that Rafa was actually looking for the suspension– either gets paid either way, right? Either way it’s ridiculous injuries like this really can’t be rationalized or explained. If it had happened in the parking lot or the stands he’d be brought up on assault charges.
Troll along racebater….
There wasn’t an option for more, so you can’t complain.
Prior to last season I would have said 3 games. With what the Disciplinary committee has said in the last year+ after the tackles by Mullan, Mondiani, and Leathers and the suspensions earlier this season though I’m thinking 6 games. Rafa wasn’t making a soccer move, he has a history of discipline problems, he caused a serious injury and he intentionally kicked an opponent. These are all factors that the DC has stated they consider now when determining a suspension. Thus, 6 games.
This is the environment the DC wanted when they made the statements, now they need to stand by them. Rafa shouldn’t get off just because he’s a DP and/or plays for a big team.
+1
There is contact in the box on all dead balls that are being played in and sometimes people even get tackled. So for me the tackle of Salinas and the broken bone that came of it is not worthy of a suspension. I honestly don’t think there was the intent to hurt.
However in watching the clip when Marquez lands on Salinas you can see him turn his head, look down and then see the foot come down on to his face. To me that was 100% intent to hurt! If this was not the first time I would say 3-5 games, but this is not the first time 5-10 games (10 if the league really wants to try and make a point).
I hate Marquez as much as the next Yank does, but I don’t get the idea of big suspensions for the tackle. That’s called a “foul.” It should have been a penalty kick and a card of some color.
His kick at the player he tackled, on the other hand, I can see suspending him for, consistent with suspensions for similar infractions. A couple of games?
Borgetti and Osvaldo Sanchez did their fair share too
Repeat offender. Should be at least 5 games I think since the 3 game one did nothing to hinder his actions. And I am an RBNY fan.
The commentator was Shep Messing. Sometime, check out his autobiography – written in the 80s sometime – he has a story about playing in goal in the old NY German-American league and some kid came out on the field and stabbed him in the thigh with a pen knife. No call on that one, even though it drew blood! But it wasn’t on film either.
From my perspective, Mullan had as much interest and possibility of getting the ball on that play as Marquez did – absolutely none. Mullan’s hit may have come in the run of play, but you’d have to have pretty severe blinders on to say his tackle had anything to do with winning the ball.
Both were the type of reckless thug play that can’t be tolerated.
He gives people a Bad name?
LMAO, classic line.
I didn’t see the foul and I have no love loss for the S.O.B. so I’m completely biased against what happened based and based only on hearsay when I say he should receive a LIFETIME BAN from MLS.
:O)
No hugs? I don’t think that FIFA has made PDAs illegal. If Rafa wants to show his affection he needs to learn to be more gentle. “You always hurt/the ones you love/the ones you shouldn’t hurt/at all” as the old song goes.
Problem: Landon would never do that, sir.
You are turning this into a race issue when it is really about a dirty player who disgraces the MLS.
The issue IS the tackle because that and the kick occurred in relation to one another. The disciplinary committee is not just going to start the tape rolling at the point when Salinas hits the ground. The tackle helps to show the intentionality of Marquez’s foul, and it compounds the offense. I agree that the kick shows intent to harm while the tackle does not, but it also can’t be ignored.
For Yallop, at least in his postgame quotes, the issue is actually the tackle that he believes should have resulted in a penalty.
Tarnished what reputation for the red bulls.
Marquez is nearly solely responsible for the younger generation of USMNT fans’ hatred of the Mexican national team. He is a dirty, disgraceful player. The Red Bulls tarnished the club’s reputation by bringing Marquez to the MLS.
But Marquez’s fouls occurred *entirely off the ball* – no intent *whatsoever* to contest for the ball. Zakuani had a ball near his feet at least when Mullan came flying in.
Can Marquez argue that he was trying to disposses Salinas of the ball with his kick? If he does, he’s more of a tool than we all think.
They might be everyday occurences, but It’s still a foul. It’s also one of the things the league has specifically said it wants to get rid of. He routinely went after Salinas and made it clear there was at least some malice there. The kick was just inexcusable
This was going to be my response. Players who intentionally injure another – or purposefully do something that would clearly cause some sort of injury – should result in a suspension that lasts as long as the injured player is out. The victim had no choice in the matter, and so they shouldn’t be sidelined by intentional behaviour when the offender gets to be in the lineup the next game or at any time before the victim gets back.
What Mullan did was worse only in that the injury was worse. Mullan’s act was a lousy tackle on someone who had the ball. Marquez’ act was off the ball.
If it wasn’t intentional, his leg would have never had that type of force and velocity when coming down. It’s pretty damn clear he kicked out at Salinas. Just because the ref deemed it legal doesn’t mean squat. They aren’t perfect and they make mistakes. The ref in this matchup had a horrendous match from opening to closing whistle. He should be sitting out a few weeks, too.
The sad thing is the longer Marquez is suspended the better NYRBs will play. He clearly doesn’t give a crap.
BTW – I voted 2-5 as I think 5 is a reasonable number. It’s clearly malicious and the intent is to hurt. I still think its not as bad as Mullan lining up Zakuani. Most of the damage was from Marquez landing on top rather than the inital tackle.
The issue is not the tackle. The issue is the kick to the face/shoulder area. It caused physical harm and could have easily been avoided. The intent is pretty clear.
Rafa es un hijo de la ch****da.
10 or more
-he went after Salinas the whole game. There were multiple souls that could have drawn cards before that.
-history. Marquez’s reputation for dirty play is well deserved and documented
-anyone trying to claim the kick wasn’t intentional is lying to themselves. If it was just the tackle a game or two might be in the discussion. The CLEARLY intentional kick, with everything else, takes it to a whole other level.
He has always been a____hole. Remember what he did to Cobi in 2002?
If there was no precedent for this, I would say 3 games, but given that he is a repeat offender, 5 games and a hefty fine (both league and internal) seem justified.
Where is the option for him to be out as long as Chavez and Benitez?
After re-watching the game I am surprised if the league does not come down on all three of them. Both San Jose fouls were pretty assassin.
Cheers