The Heat suffers the most with two starters out for their game against the Bravos on Sunday.
That left Heat owner Shashi Vaswani hoping that their game video ran a little bit longer than normal.
"The unfortunate part is we sent them the tape, but our camera man shutdown when the final whistle blew and he missed the first thirty to forty seconds where it showed how it began . We have to move forward, they made their decision and we just have to move on," Vaswani said.
More importantly, the league resolved the issue of whether or not the tackle on Jesus Mireles was anything out of the ordinary. The verdict absolves Mulamba of any malicious intent.
The following is the USL's response to the clubs.
Gregory Mulamba (Laredo Heat) – 1 game suspension & $25 fine (7/28 @ Rio Grande Valley)
Mr. Mulamba becomes involved as a reaction to the physical contact initiated by Mr. Chapa. While Mr. Mulamba may have been acting in defense of Mr. Chapa, the evidence leads us to believe his actions are responsible for the escalation of the altercation.
o We have reviewed the tackle that Mr. Mulamba committed in the 30th minute against Jesus Mireles (including consolation) with USSF, and we feel that the tackle doesn’t warrant any disciplinary action.
Alejandro De La Fuente (Laredo Heat) – 1 game suspension & $25 fine (7/28 @ Rio Grande Valley)
o Mr. De La Fuente is identified by multiple witnesses as attacking/striking a member of the Rio Grande Valley.
Erick Acevedo (Laredo Heat) – 1 game suspension & $25 fine (7/28 @ Rio Grande Valley)
o Mr. Acevedo is identified by multiple witnesses as attacking/striking a member of the Rio Grande Valley.
Rio Grande Valley Bravos:
Ismael “Moreira” Braga (Rio Grande Valley Bravos) – 3 game suspension & $150 fine ( 6/27 vs. Austin, 6/28 vs. Laredo, 7/9 @ Laredo)
It is our assessment that Mr. Braga was the instigator of this incident as he approached the Laredo Heat player Gregory Mulamba after the conclusion of the match. His actions fall far below the level of professionalism we expect for the Head Coach.
It is clear from the video that Mr. Braga attempted to strike a member of the Laredo Heat during the beginning of the confrontation. Whether this was in defense of oneself is irrelevant, these actions are not acceptable by the Head Coach.
Several times Mr. Braga continued to enflame the situation by continuing verbally provoke the Laredo Heat members. It is our expectation, Mr. Braga (or any coach) to act in the manner of trying to diffuse the situation and gain control of his team.
Eric Chapa – (Rio Grande Valley Bravos) – 2 game suspension & $50 fine (6/27 vs. Austin & 6/28 vs. Laredo)
Mr. Chapa initiated the physical contact between the two teams as he struck Mr. Mulamba. This action served as the precipitator for others to become physically involved and for the situation to quickly deteriorate.
Mr. Chapa involvement continued throughout the entire situation, and as both teams looked to be settling down, Mr. Chapa attempted to strike another member of the Laredo Heat, again causing the confrontation to re-escalate.
_________________________________________________________________
So there you have it.
Of note, Mulamba is one yellow card away from receiving another suspension. He has four on the year.
As for coach Braga, the USL took a much different apporach back in 2005 when the then coach Eleazer Jepsen was suspended for three months after deliberatley bumpbing into a referee. It seems Braga was lucky that he actually didn't hit anybody during the altercation.
For that incident the USL had this to say.
The USL says, any contact with a referee is seen as ref assault, regardless of the severity of the aggression which means consequences are mandatory.
"It was a deliberate action by the coach, and based on that we had to give a minimum of three months in accordance to the soccer rule book. He feels awful and we know he is a class act, but we can't overlook the fact that this happened. The rule is put in place to protect the refs," USL vice president Tim Holt said by phone out of his Florida office Wednesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment