By AARON CRANFORD
Orlando City SC head coach Adrian Heath made it no secret that he wants former player Dom Dyer, but his explicitness is now costing him.
Major League Soccer fined the head coach for his words about Dyer on Friday because it violated the league’s tampering policy. Sporting Kansas City head coach Peter Vermes was upset with Heath engaging and talking with his player, who is currently under contract.
“I think it’s unfortunate that it comes out publicly like that, because what it could do — and it hasn’t, which is great — but what it could do within a team is disrupt it,” Vermes told the Kansas City Star about Heath’s comments. “And I think that’s the unprofessional aspect of it that I don’t appreciate.”
Dwyer played for Orlando City on loan from Sporting KC and helped the then USL club win a championship. And according to Heath, the 24-year-old forward wants a reunion with the team, but explicitly stating he and the club’s intentions of going after him were too much for the liking of MLS.
Here are some more MLS news and notes:
DEMPSEY AND MARTINS SET TO RETURN FOR SOUNDERS
The Seattle Sounders’ dynamic duo has not been able to connect in recent weeks due to time off and injuries, but both Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins may make their return Saturday, according to The Seattle Times.
The duo both missed out in last week’s tough 0-1 defeat to Sporting Kansas City, but Dempsey and Martins are expected to be a part of head coach Sigi Schmid’s plans vs. FC Dallas Saturday. The U.S. Men’s National Team forward has been missing games for the Sounders in anticipation of the birth of his latest child while Martins is continuing to recover from a broken nose, and he may come on as a substitute, if he does not start.
Brad Evans is also expected to be in the lineup on Saturday after returning from U.S. Men’s National Team duty. He participated in training on Friday.
SHERROD RED CARD APPEAL DENIED BY MLS
Whether or not his brush with Dan Kennedy’s head was accidental, Mark Sherrod is going to have to sit out a game.
He was shown the red by Baldomero Toledo in the 53rd minute after he appeared to step on the head of the FC Dallas goalkeeper. While Sherrod didn’t lunge into Kennedy, Toldeo deemed his action to be dangerous and the independent review panel upheld the referee’s decision.
San Jose Earthquakes will have to be without Sherrod when they meet the Seattle Sounders on Jun 20th.
WILLIAMS CALLED INTO JAMAICA U-23 CAMP
The Montreal Impact will be without forward Romario Williams because Jamaica’s calling his services.
The Under-23 Reggae Boyz national team is looking to move into the next round of qualification for the 2016 Olympics, and it must go through Dominican Republic on June 24, Curaçao on June 26 and Saint Lucia on June 28 in order to advance.
The two nations with the most points in their group will progress to the next round of CONCACAF qualifying.
The notion of MLS, the Bizarro World of player movement, accusing a coach of tampering just makes my head hurt.
Disappointing decision on Sherrod. He did pretty much everything he could to avoid injuring Kennedy except maybe disappearing.
What Heath did is about as clear as case of tampering as is possible.
True enough. But my point was about the identity of the accuser – MLS – to which the idea of fair play when it comes to player movement is totally foreign.
That MLS are, in your view, massive hypocrites on this issue does not relieve Heath of blame for clearly tampering.
He knows better or he should and he has cost his team some money
While I agree that he did everything he could to avoid injuring Kennedy, it still is endangering the safety of the player, which would necessitate a red. Unfortunately, intent doesn’t factor in to red card decisions; if it did, the card should be rescinded, but it isn’t
I get that, but it’s not just lack of intent here. It’s that Sherrod’s clear intent was exactly the opposite. If a defender is on the ground in the box, and an attacking player strikes the ball just as the defender begins to get up, and the ball hits the player in the face, should the attacking player get a red card?