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Houston’s Robinson facing suspension

Eddie_robinson_mls

Houston central defender Eddie Robinson is one of the best defenders in MLS, but last weekend he probably helped establish a reputation as one of the league’s dirtier players with a vicious forearm shiver to the face of Kansas City’s Tyson Wahl during their 0-0 tie on Saturday.

Major League Soccer usually announces suspensions on Thursday and it is hard to imagine that the league won’t throw a multi-game suspension at Robinson for this blatant cheap shot (In fact, the suspension could come as early as today):

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAjU0M-eakc&hl=en]

If Andy Herron received a four-game suspension for his elbow of Jay Heaps a year ago, and Ricardo Clark received nine games for his kung fu attack of Carlos Ruiz, you have to believe MLS will crack down hard on Robinson.

Here is Herron’s elbow on Heaps:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Kt-sbp1o08&hl=en]

And here is Clark’s karate kick:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA_c1FClBMo&hl=en]

What do you think of Robinson’s elbow? How many games should he be suspended? I say four games at the very least. There just isn’t room in the game for this type of behavior.

Share your own thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Spencer:

    Don’t even dignify JohnR’s idiotic self righteous post with a response. He’s just the kind of person, along with macho Byron, who show up to defend cheaters and thugs whenever something happens. Yes Byron, you are more of a man now because you defend thugs. I bet the babes love you. As for JohnR, he represents so many people who think that the player reacting to being constantly harassed, fouled, kicked, pushed, etc. is always held fully accountable accountable and the instigator should never be criticized in any way. I’d like to meet someone like that in person and harass the hell out of them until they reacted. Then see if they recommend that they be severely punished and portray me as just an innocent angel.

    No one was defending the behavior of Herron or anyone else who does what they do, but I think they have the right to have people at least have the decency to point out the fact that they are being wronged as well and are not just initiating random brutality. I’m guessing JohnR loves Matterazzi and though Zidane was just pure evil for what he did to him. Let’s see how long you hold up when I start trashing your family. Self righteous hypocrites.

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  2. wykell:

    You are a breath of fresh air. As soon as I saw you mention you were a ref I thought, “Oh no, here we go again. We’re going to get the one sided speech that completely ignores the side of the game where defenders are always committing fouls that aren’t called, before someone retaliates.” The game is great but if we had professional referees like you the game would be so much better and fun to watch than it is now with all of this cheating and poor sportsmanship.

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  3. P.S. And as he dives, gets called for it, and disappears, his team loses international games. But sure, he’s great. A poacher who needs special treatment by refs to be successful, and who dives constantly and let’s face it, dove on the foul that injured him. He literally dove on that foul, it makes me happy to find out he tore up his stuff by taking a dive.

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  4. Brent, relax my friend. The only people who don’t realize that Ruiz is by far the dirtiest player in league history are the refs! He should be lynched.

    In American club soccer history, there is no bigger cheater, and no dirtier player than Carlos Ruiz.

    And now I await the idiot fans of Dallas and L.A. to tell me how it’s okay to cheat, no big deal.

    To you idiot fans: Ever see Ruiz play for his country? He is constantly called on fouls for cheating and what does he do? He cries like a baby and screams at the ref. I dare you to tell me he doesn’t get special treatment, morons.

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  5. The reason Clark kicked el Pescadito is because he had just been kidney-punched. Watch the video. Clark is not a dirty player; he just let his emotions get to him in a moment of insanity. Ruiz’s antics, on the other hand, are premediated and invite retaliation….

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  6. Not that I’m any kind of expert, but I agree with those who think Ruiz is a twit, that Clark’s suspension, while deserved, was too long, and that the other suspensions are about right. Robinson’s should match Herron’s.

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  7. Give me a break. The guy was tugging on Robinson’s shirt. One to two games is probably plenty. We have way too many wimps on this site.

    And it’s funny how people talk about hefty fines but what most probably don’t realize is that these guys make the same kind of money we do. Clark was fined $10K last year which is absurd. That’s 5% of his entire pay last year. I make decent money and getting clipped $10K would be really tough to swallow. Garber is clueless when it comes to this.

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  8. Modibo, while I agree with you that there is at least one foul on pretty much every corner kick, there is a difference between a shirt tug here, and laying a guy out with an elbow. While MLS has been a very physical league for a while now, MLS teams have not done well historically in competitions against clubs from other similar leagues. To take your rationale one step further, we’ll keep improving the level of play in MLS if we allow rough play on set pieces? I don’t agree. While I know there will be small fouls like shirt tugs and such on corners, to resort to body checks is just sloppy defending, besides being illegal. Just beat your guy to the ball by being a step quicker, and none of this is an issue. And that will raise the level of play in MLS, and for the US Nats.

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  9. No question Robinson deserves a suspension. I’d peg his higher than Herron’s – it was very clear what he was doing, and even though Herron had a sense of where his elbow was going to land Robinson could have no question in his mind. And I’m sorry, these guys are not so clumsy or unaware of what’s going on around them that these elbows accidentally hit noses – that goes for Herron AND Robinson. They have to know where other players are around them at all times – esp if they’re in front of their faces (Robinson).

    It may be an urban myth, but I’ve read that some East German sports commission (this is back in the 70s or 80s) studied corner kicks and found something ridiculous like 19 fouls per play in the box. Refs can’t stay on top of all that. Nor do they want to, or we’d end up with a game that ground to a halt every time there was a corner kick. It would be like watching the last minute of a tight NBA game.

    Furthermore, MLS desperately wants to show well in regional competitions, and they’re not going to do it by sanitizing the game to the point that MLS forwards can’t play through a certain amount of rough stuff. It might not be nice or pretty, but MLS can’t go it alone on this and diverge so drastically from the rest of the world. So AndrewK is saying the tough stuff will keep MLS competitive in a congested sports marketplace in the US, I think it’s going to keep MLS teams competitive in international competition. AND keep MLS players competitive in the international marketplace.

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  10. I’m not defending any of them, in fact i agree that this stuff isn’t called enough and shouldn’t be a part of the game…but those of you arguing that violent conduct like this is keeping the game from growing in America are out of touch with the majority of the sport-loving public. You’re not thinking your argument out.

    It’s not very hard to imagine that the more violent conduct, the more the average American would enjoy soccer. Fistfights are a part of hockey, people watch Nascar for the crashes, and all american football is is huge dudes slamming into each other. More americans who didn’t grow up with soccer are going to connect with a guy like Eddie Robinson who makes his living off of hard work, toughness, and hard fouls, wayy more than they’re going to connect with a guy with flashy footskills.

    Joe Budweiser likes to watch two things on TV: sex and violence. This is fact. And since I dont think they’ll be playing a Landon Donovan-Bianca Klasnic sex tape during halftime of MLS Primetime Thursday, let’s not go throwing around lifetime bans for elbows just yet.

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  11. Robinson is a diver & a thug. You can throw a shoulder in that situation or at least he should’ve put himself to body block Wahl. That was completly unnecessary & he should get four or more games for that & a heavy fine.

    I remember the dive he did on Clint Mathis for that weak challenge against the Dynamo in midfield at the swamp. Mathis got sent off for nothing. Robinson one day will get his when the rest of the players find that on You Tube.

    He is a disgrace.

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  12. I say 3 games. Precedent is everything, and it’s simply not as bad as the Herron elbow.

    Robinson was trying to keep position on Wahl and got his forearm unacceptably high. Herron’s elbow right to Heaps face is definitely worse IMO.

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  13. 4 games. It may or may not be right, but it’s consistent, and it would be nice to get some consistency out of the league or out of the reffing occasionally.

    Corners and free kicks result in a LOT of physical play in the box, but it really has gotten out of hand. That said, Robinson’s forearm shiver didn’t look like the usual physical play in the box. He’s a strong, physical player, but my understanding is that he already has a reputation for pushing over the line.

    In this case, maybe it wasn’t supposed to be a face shot, but he’s got to take responsibility for what he was doing. It’s not like the player was shoved onto his knees – his head was roughly at head height.

    I still think the egregiousness of Rico’s kick doesn’t change anything about the ludicrousness of Ruiz’s response. Rolling around clutching his face like he’s Rivaldo or something.

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  14. JohnR

    I’m not trying to defend Ruiz, but I think its a bit ridiculous that he puts on a show. He already knew Clark was guranteed to get a red card and also further suspension. But there is a big difference between a kick in the head and the arm. As far as damage it can do. I do believe that all of these fouls are unacceptable. And yes I’d rate Clarks as one of the most embarrassing displays in the history of the MLS.

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  15. What a scumbag, I’d like to thank all the idiots saying this is no big deal for helping prevent this game from growing in America.

    I won’t defend any of these guys but I have personally wanted to kick Carlos Ruiz in the face since the day I laid eyes on him, so I will still thank Ricardo for doing it even though it was wrong.

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  16. Anyone trying to defend Clark, Herron or Robinson should wake up. These guys tried to hurt other people, case closed. I’m sure they are all nice people off the field and walk little old ladies across the street, but they deserve (perhaps more than) what they got. I can’t believe someone is trying to blame Ruiz and Heaps for these incidents. They might not be the greatest guys, but Ruiz was kicked hard while he was on the ground in front of 15,000 fans and Heaps didn’t even know what happened to him when he was elbowed. Robinson should serve some time for doing the crime.

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  17. You know everytime I watch the Clark Ruiz thing I can’t but help to laugh. Ruiz grabs his face like he actually got kicked there. Second we know if Clark would have kicked his hardest Ruiz would have had a broken arm. And therefore we would have seen the expression on his face.

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  18. I would say 4 or 5 games is reasonable.

    Just out of curiosity, why didn’t the ref call that? He was looking directly at the action before the camera pans away, and that’s about as obvious as a foul as you can get. That should have been a PK.

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  19. I just want to thank Ruiz for perpetuating the stereotype of South American players. Thanks for being a wuss and exaggerating the flop!

    Obviously Clark was in the wrong, but obviously he only hit him in the biceps or shoulder. He wasn’t even close to the forehead. Great fake job Ruiz!

    And we wonder why our ignorant American friends who hate on soccer use “the players all fake when they’re hurt” as ammunition against us 🙁

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  20. wow that footage was shocking ! I really hate it when players have to resort to dirty play for lack of skill, I think a 4 game suspension and a hefty fine will due and by hefty I mean a couple g’s

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  21. I like how both aristotle and myself used the “walk-by assault” analogy, and agree with them that those who initiate by engaging in little ticky-tacky type stuff are nearly just as bad as those who finally crack and take it out on someone. If the referees were to take a more proactive stance, start calling fouls that are fouls, regardless of where on the field they are (AS THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO DO!), this would be much less of a problem.

    Anyone ever see a ref call a pk on a defender for pushing off a little bit, or bear hugging a striker on a corner? I highly doubt it, unless he drags the player down and lands on top of him. Yet at midfield, this gets called all the time. Referees should be challenged at EVERY level to step up and actually do their jobs, not just make popular decisions so they don’t “influence the game.” The initial fouls influence the game, so make the call already.

    sheesh.

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  22. Notice the commentary on the clip from Glenn Davis. For someone who routinely gets passionate and fired up in the booth, Glenn Davis was surprisingly quiet as a player from his team pulled out a dirty move. He’s a great commentator but obviously biased, as most of the regional TV guys are in the league.

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  23. Ives I agree with you completely, but the league is so inconsistent. Clark got what he deserved, but I am not so sure the Robinson will get a 3+ game suspension. Look at the Andrea Lombardo v Hunter Freeman incident last year. It was caught on tape and nothing happened…. nothing – no suspension, no card, nothing. I thought that was almost as reprehensible as the Clark Ruiz incident.

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  24. As both a player and a referee, I find this sort of nonsense absolutely unacceptable. How is it that if you are walking down the street, and some dude makes fun of your hair (just an example), and you toss an elbow into his face, a cop happens to see, you get a nice trip in a squad car, and likely serve some jail time, yet you can blatantly get away with throwing an elbow/forearm during a soccer match with CLEAR intent to injure the opposing player, and get nothing but a short suspension (and lose out on a bit of salary)?

    This sort of activity at the professional level is at least twice as bad, because it influences the behavior of younger players who watched him get away with it during the game (and won’t pay attention to the fact that he WILL get suspended for multiple games afterwards). I’d love someone to track all of the Houston area youth matches in the next 3 weeks and see how many more red cards are tossed for Violent Conduct (and/or Serious Foul Play).

    Also, I hope that Robinson is ashamed of himself.

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  25. I guess I’m still alone on this but I thought Herron’s suspension was very unfair. I don’t understand why no one else saw what part Heaps played in this incident. I don’t think I’m delusional. I saw it during the game and you can see it in the video.

    Heaps was harassing the hell out of Herron and I think he was probably trying to get him thrown out of the game. Referees need to start enforcing the rules of the game, and they also need to understand the nature of a lot of defenders.

    I’m especially tired of watching defenders mug forwards in the box on set pieces. Where does it say in the rules that a defender can put a forward in a bear hug from behind and jab him and kick him and it’s just part of the game? Only for defenders mind you. If an attacking player tries anything close to this type of tactic it is whistled immediately.

    I hate the thugs in soccer and wish they would crack down on them more severely. Of course we always have our macho men who love to say this is part of the game and actually believe it’s manly in some way. It’s manly just like a kidney punch from behind when the person’s not looking is manly. Not to mention it robs us of great moments in so many games.

    The problem with this incident demonstrates another major problem we have when taking action against thugs. The thugs aren’t always the thugs, but we treat them that way anyway. If you have a player who is basically a fair player and would never really take a cheap shot at another player under normal circumstances, but will retaliate in frustration and anger, he is actually considered to be worse than the player who may do it on a regular basis, plans it, and is the one who actually initiates it. Why?

    This is the same mentality that says if your walking down the street and someone walks up and punches you in the face, you are as bad or worse than them if you strike back. Especially if your return punch does much more damage.

    Apart from harassing him leading up to the play, if you watch the video closely in slow motion you can see Heaps grabbing Herron from behind and you will also see that right before Herron throws his elbow his head snaps back a little and you can see him wincing like someone has punched or kneed him from behind. Herron’s crime is that he responds naturally and throws an elbow without thinking about it, and without waiting and trying to conceal what he is doing by getting behind Heaps at some point in the game and doing it without being seen. I also don’t think the elbow was deliberately targeted to Heaps face like a lot of the thugs do. He threw it backwards while facing away and was just naturally throwing an elbow to lash out at whoever was jabbing him in the back.

    I know I’m in a very small minority when I say I would love to see forwards be able to dish it out to thug defenders just the way the defenders do it to forwards all of the time. If they were allowed to do this maybe defenders wouldn’t be dishing it out all of the time. Then again, we could just enforce the rules of the game. I guess that would be silly, though.

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  26. @ sidenetting.

    Yes.

    Take away the dirty play, and Robinson is probably the best CB in the league. Everybody said that’s what made Parkhurst better than him–the fact that Parkhurst rarely got yellows, while Robinson was good for quite a few.

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  27. 4 games for Eddie. Now as for Clark, don’t get me started – no way should that suspension have lasted longer than the end of last season.

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  28. Am I the only one who isn’t bowled over by Eddie Robinson’s play as a central defender? Take away the dirty stuff that he constantly dishes out, and I view him as only above average.

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  29. Ives I agree with you completely, but the league is so inconsistent. Clark got what he deserved, but I am not so sure the Robinson will get a 3+ game suspension. Look at the Andrea Lombardo v Hunter Freeman incident last year. It was caught on tape and nothing happened…. nothing – no suspension, no card, nothing. I thought that was almost as reprehensible as the Clark Ruiz incident.

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  30. You know the thing I noticed between the 3 clips. Was that Robinsons elbow didn’t have a very clear view of what happened. It wasn’t lik Herrons where you could tell visibly it was a thrown elbow or Clarks blatant kick to the shoulder. But like I said on the player of the week thing. Kljestan deserves to be handed a suspension also. He has a history of this stuff. If they hand Robinson a 4 game then fine, but make sure you hand it to Kljestan also.

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  31. While I’d prefer a 5-game suspension as the 5th game would be against my Fire, I agree with FJJ above. Probably not as bad as Heron’s clear intent. However, the league/refs have been sending a message about dangerous play in carding aggressively. If they want to reinforce that, I could see Robinson getting a healthy suspension.

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  32. well, that’s how you become a feared defender. opponents will think twice when lining up against him in the future.

    in all honesty, he was throwing a body blow and it got away from him. he went too high.

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