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Koffie, Camara, Bernardez suspended by MLS Disciplinary Committee

CamaraLenhart (Getty Images)

The MLS Disciplinary Committee had plenty of incidents to sift through from this past week, and three more players have received bans for harsh fouls.

Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Gershon Koffie, Montreal Impact defender Hassoun Camara and San Jose Earthquakes defender Victor Bernardez were all suspended for a game and fined an undisclosed amount for their actions.

Koffie was caught for his kick to the midsection of Seattle's Andy Rose at the end of a 2-0 loss to the rival Sounders, and he was fined an additional undisclosed amount for a gesture he made after the fact at referee Silviu Petrescu. Koffie had just come off serving a suspension for card accumulation, but he'll miss Vancouver's Cascadia Cup battle against Portland this weekend.

Camara and San Jose's Steven Lenhart drew matching red cards for their altercation, but Camara's violent swipe from behind was deemed over the top, so he will have to miss a total of two games for the Impact, which will be against D.C. United and Columbus, two teams Montreal is trying to fend off for a playoff berth. Bernardez, meanwhile, was punished for his foul on Lamar Neagle soon after in that same match, and he'll miss the Earthquakes' battle against the Colorado Rapids Saturday night.

What do you think of these developments? Were all the punishments deserved? Should the committee have taken more action for any of them?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Rivas and Camara sure do taking playing for the ‘Impact’ the wrong way.
    Impact(noun)- force of collision, action of hitting,
    First a Rivas headbutt and now a Camara punch.

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  2. No, most fans dislike Lenhart because he’s a diving, whiny, dirty player. I’ve got nothing against the Quakes, but I’ve hated The Greatest American Hero for years.

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  3. Beckerman straight red. RSL missed him 2 years ago in the decider when Suazo scored to win this tournament

    pretty icky foul tho

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  4. And come clean. You’re all annoyed with Lenhart because my team beat yours some time this season, probably in an embarrassing fashion, like letting Alan Gordon tap a header past your keeper off a long lob into the box in the 93rd minute of injury time…

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  5. I do disagree… because it’s a dumb argument. It’s only “instigating” if the person on the other end reacts. See bandeeto’s comment below. Further, being annoying is not a crime. Breaking someone’s jaw, on the other hand…

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  6. and keep lenhart?

    I agree with the Camara ejection and penalty, and lenhart deserves to disappear for an extra game or two too

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  7. not a dumb argument at all, we disagree.

    Camara gets what he deserves for retaliating, but lenhart instigates all, repeatedly every game, and vs. Camara the only bummer is that Camara didn;t break his jaw when he reataliated

    yes, I’ve played

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  8. then why was Lenhart also carded? his actions instigated all, so how can there be a foul in the box if the original foul, by Lenhart, was carded?

    I still don’t get it

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  9. always with the ‘cheating’ allegation. have you ever played? have you ever watched any other league in the world? do you think roy keane ever stomped on someone when the ref wasn’t looking? strikers and forwards get to know each other all game, sometimes its with mutual respect – other times it’s not. besides, these are two teams playing for something, so #^$@^! your hurt feelings.

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  10. Well done. There’s no place for Camara’s thuggery, whether it was reactive or not. I think, the ban should have been longer though. Get him off the field.

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  11. Dumb argument. A “history” of trivial antics, however annoying to the opposition, is not a punishable offense, certainly not “worse” than punching someone.

    Then again, if the Quakes weren’t top team, you probably wouldn’t care.

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  12. As we see in every game, true pros can be volatile. Watch the whole game up to that point. Lenhart throws an elbow into his head and there is a lot of violence on both sides (the preceding corner could have resulted in cards). Camara was primed and pissed off. But Lenhart was very cool and calculated. Worse in my book.

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  13. A longer ban. Camara was reacting in anger (there was a lot of history earlier in the game) and I have no problem with his ban. But Lenhart was making a calculated attack he thought he could get away with and that is worse. Lenhart has a long history of this kind of cheating.

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  14. Are you sure about the PK? Watch the game: nothing is blown and the ref doesn’t point to the stop until after the Lenhart/Camara tussle. None of the officials were paying any attention to the box until then. Unless the ref said something different after the game, the penalty was because of the altercation.

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  15. This is great news. Players who act unprofessionally will be penalized. Plain and simple. They will know they are being watched and punished. This is a good development for the league.

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  16. The PK was because of what happened before their altercation. Camara had fouled Lenhart in the box. This po’d Lenhart, who raised his arm back to *ahem* “casually bump into” Camara’s face -red card- which prompted Camara to retaliate by punching Lenhart- also a red card. But Camara’s neck hold with one arm and punch with the other was worse than Lenhart putting his arm up for Camara to walk into it, so that’s why he is getting the extra game suspension.

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  17. In any job, bad things happen to you. A true pro goes about his job anyway. I’m not saying I could take a slap in the face and act as if nothing happened, but Camara but is a professional who decided to punch Lenhart while inside the penalty area. He could have AT LEAST waited till they exited the penalty area to react.

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  18. He got away with it because he cheated and his team benefitted from it. At 18:51, as soon as the ball is cleared upfield and the referees turn to follow the ball, Lenhart casually hits Camara in the face. It is calm, calculated, cynical cheating. He doesn’t think the refs will see it and he knows Camara will react. And the worst part is that he got caught and he still got away with it, because his team got a PK and both sides are reduced to 10 men for the rest of the game. That is a massive advantage. And then the disciplinary committee does nothing about it, so he gets positive reinforcement: blatantly cheat and even if you get caught, you’ll help your team win.

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  19. How did he get away with it? he got a red card. Is he the kind of guy that gets under people skin…yeah. But the way i see it, and so should you, Camara threw a punch! so how is the DC a joke?

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  20. As long as they allow Lenhart to get away with his antics he will continue and now it is causing other players suspensions. The DC is a joke.

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  21. Not surprised Big Vic gets punished for his stomp on Neagle and agree w/ an extra game for Camara since he threw a haymaker at Lenny, but does anybody know why the ref awarded a pk to SJ? Somebody said handball, but never saw it.

    Reply

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