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Union’s Farfan suspended 2 more games

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Photo by Michael Janosz/ISIphotos.com

If you thought that Gabriel Farfan was out of the woods after MLS' Disciplinary Committee announced punishments from last week's Chivas USA-Philadelphia Union game on Thursday and he wasn't a part of it, think again.

The Disciplinary Committee suspended Farfan two additional games and fined him an undisclosed amount for his two-footed challenge into James Riley last weekend. Farfan was red carded for the offense, so he'll miss a total of three games because of the foul.

"The Committee determined the challenge was reckless and endangered Riley’s safety," the league wrote in a statement. "The additional fine is being levied in part for both the egregious nature of the challenge itself as well as for failing to leave the field in an orderly manner."

Farfan will miss this week's match against San Jose followed by games against the Seattle Sounders and New York Red Bulls. He'll be eligible to return at FC Dallas on May 19. He'll also be available to play when the Union host FC Schalke 04 in a friendly on May 9.

Video of the challenge is after the jump:

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Do you think the added punishment was warranted?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. This is a very odd suspension to me. Both players were attempting to do the same thing: Slide in and get a touch on a 50-50 ball. Farfans was better timed and he got the touch….the Chivas player attempted his slide a little to late and took Farfans follow through slide in the shin. Honestly I dont think this is a suspension, red card, and barely even a foul…

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  2. good job on the league for continuing to crack down on this stuff. a reckless challenge indeed.

    remeber folks, all the broken legs last year?

    it has to be done

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  3. Riley’s shinpad was either broken or cracked, it was a hard, reckless tackle and was punished as such. Would everyone still be upset if Farfan had injured someone? I, for one, would like MLS to be a league where players aren’t hacked down left and right. I’m not against hard, strong play, but what good does investing in an expensive foreign player, or grooming the next Dempsey just to have him out injured?

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  4. Better a 2 game suspension than a broken foot. Go in hard everytime otherwise you could end up like Holden. That goes for any sport.

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  5. Look at the video and you will see it wasn’t so much of a dive. From what I see he got hit from behind and got frustrated when he saw he did it again a few seconds later.

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  6. I agree with your first point, (and some of your second one) but they could better protect the players if the refs called the 50 or so hacks (from both teams) that came before his. They need to prevent the typical MLS end-game violent craziness from happening by having refs keep an even control over the whole game.

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  7. Umm, it was a stupid challenge by Farfan,and by the rules a good red card. I like that MLS is trying to be a little different than the other leagues by protecting players.

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  8. Exactly, it’s pretty bad when every week there are more stories about people getting suspended than about the play on the field.

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  9. Play was red-card worthy, but I don’t like this “MLS Disciplinary Committee” taking the FIFA Rules of the Game into their own hands and changing the red card punishment.

    I’m all for retroactive cards when they go uncalled, but he got his card. A red card is not worth 3 games. His team was in a pressure situation, he acted rashly, and he was duly punished.

    This is getting ridiculous.

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  10. I’d like to see the guy on Chivas who lost the ball, then fell and flopped around on the ground like a b!tch after the first tackle get fined.

    That said, at a minimum Farfan’s 2nd challenge was reckless even if he had no intent. Hard to tell exactly where contact was made, etc as there is no slo-mo, zoomed in shot of the tackle on the clip. As a player, you know there is always potential when you go in 2 footed on a 50-50, so definetly not the smartest challenge I’ve seen.

    Hope the MLS disciplinary committee had some better video than the clip Ives’ is showing to add extra games to the suspension.

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  11. Naughty Garfan! Always stupid to go in 2-footed. It’s an automatic red. Suspension seems out of line considering how low he kept his feet on the play. Still, pretty idiotic play by Garfan.

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  12. The first player Farfan gets the ball from is on the ground acting like he is in pain. He sees the second tackles and is the first to enter the fray. Suspend him for diving.

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  13. He gets to the ball first and appears to go through the ball with both feet and his feet are on the ground they don’t appear elevated. It looks like he kicks the player in the lower leg near the shin. If he came in with intend to harm I think he ends up higher on the body.

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  14. I fifty fifty ball turns into three games that is a disgrace.

    How many does the guy from Chivas get for pushing Farfan?

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