Photo by Trevor Ruszkowski/USA Today Sports
By RYAN TOLMICH
The Seattle Sounders have struggled in recent weeks, and it appears matters have just been made worse due to an off-the-field incident.
MLS announced on Monday night that Sounders midfielder Marco Pappa is to undergo an assessment by MLS’ Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health (“SABH”) program doctors after being arrested for driving under the influence and speeding early Sunday morning.
As such, Pappa will not be eligible to feature for the Sounders until an assessment is completed, he is cleared to return by the SABH doctors, and MLS completes its investigation.
Pappa just recently returned to the Sounders after representing Guatemala at the CONCACAF Gold Cup. He has played in 16 games this season for Seattle, scoring two goals and providing five assists.
“We are gathering information on this matter and have been in contact with the league office, the MLS Players Union, local law enforcement and Marco directly,” Sounders general manager and president of soccer Garth Lagerwey said in a statement. “We will continue to work in cooperation with all involved parties and will have no further comment until more information is available.”
Earlier this season, Philadelphia Union forward C.J. Sapong missed three games in the aftermath of a similar arrest and ensuing assessment.
The Sounders return to action this Saturday with a visit to the Montreal Impact.
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What do you think of this situation? How big of a loss is this for the Sounders? Think Seattle will be well-equipped to deal with his absence given that he had recently been away on international duty?
Share your thoughts below.
This is unfortunate. Pappa is a veteran without any known history of this sort of behavior, at least not while in the MLS. Hopefully this is a one-off, an unfortunate lapse in judgement on his part that hopefully he regrets, but it goes no further. He does his time, he pays his fine, he apologizes and we all move on.
Still, MLS is doing the right thing by getting out in front of any such behavior from any player in the league. They have had a behavioral health program in place for quite some time (remember Josh Saunders taking a leave of absence?), and it encompasses all aspects of mental health, including but not limited to substance abuse. Good for them. If only other leagues took this approach.
Enter Ledesma
MLS has been good about behavioral issues and punishment. I’d rather it not end up like the NFL.
Mandatory 3 game ban for DUI’s.
Bull Spit…
DUI is serious but until he is convicted in court you can’t do anything…. do you have any idea how many people who have been charged with DUI were not under the influence?
How many?
Me for one… I got pulled over after an exhausting tennis match 3+ hours in Summer evening heat… I was speeding to get home. The guy had me blow, I blew nothing… He then said I failed a field test.. (again i was exhausted). All because I had a cooler of beer in the back of my car from the prior weekends tennis meet.
This, is not that.
Not good…..
Substance abuse and Behavioral Health? Has MSL lost it’s mind? Since when are these issues treated as medical problems? Sounds very fishy to me.
In some states, I am not sure if WA is one, alcoholism is treated as a disability or health condition (and there is some medical basis for this, genetics/predisposition), and with the ADA and like laws one has to watch out that their handling of someone with an alcohol problem is not deemed disability discrimination.
Every vice and every crime should be classified as a disability or health condition. This was we can completely eliminate prisons — trying and putting people in jail would be deemed discriminatory.
I think if you go through the motions and either the individual doesn’t cooperate with treatment or keeps doing it, you can terminate. So some of this is dotting i’s and crossing t’s if he keeps misbehaving.
That, or the person might have their job qualifications affected by the crime. The suspend your license for the DUI and you drive for a living. Then you can fire.
It’s complicated, it’s more medical than armed robbery or murder but not involuntary.
I’m going to assume that was tongue in cheek…