When a player in soccer is shown a straight red card, sometimes they can be rescinded when looked at for a second time after a game is over. But a red card being rescinded during a game is unheard of. But in MLS, with MLS referees, the unheard of often becomes not only possible, but plausible. And that’s exactly what happened between the Philadelphia Union and DC United on Saturday.
DC’s Luciano Acosta was originally showed a red card when he went in for a challenge with the Union’s Haris Medunjanin. He left his foot in for a little bit too long perhaps, but it was barely a yellow card worthy offense, if that. And Medunjanin — amazingly — agreed with Acosta, and told referee Sorin Stoica as such.
Haris Medunjanin with an explanation of the incident with Acosta & a shot at Felipe: pic.twitter.com/xVOtqcEhMY
— Joe Tansey (@JTansey90) June 25, 2017
Curtin: "It's not a red card. I have to give a lot of credit to Haris. He's the one who had the intestinal fortitude, the guts, to speak up"
— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) June 25, 2017
“I went to the referee and he said ‘He kicked you’ and I said ‘I don’t think he kicked me, I think it was just a push’. So it was no red card for me,” said Medunjanin after the game.
“But it’s no problem, I think you need to be honest. I didn’t feel a kick, it was just a push,” he added.
And in case you thought there wasn’t much animosity between MLS teams and players, the Union’s Derrick Jones was shown a straight red last week against the Red Bulls for a challenge on Felipe, and Medunjanin certainly remembered.
“I hope Felipe was watching, from last week so he could also say the same.”
Even DC United’s manager Ben Olsen found time to praise the Bosnian midfielder.
“I got a lot of respect for that,” Olsen said. “I think he’s a classy player and a classy human being.”
The Union won the game 1-0 even with the rescinded red card. But it was correctly rescinded, and not just after the fact, thanks to something sporting that you probably won’t see on a soccer pitch ever again.
[Goal.com]
