Thanks for posting the screen grab, mostly because now I don't have to. I think the big difference between this challenge and, say, Jeff Parke's second yellow in the NYRB match, is the degree to which Larentowicz misses the ball. If he wasn't going for the leg, with his studs up, it's clearly reckless in the extreme. Both of which would warrant a straight red. The fact that his trailing foot actually gets the ball just makes it worse.

Wouldn´t "pseudo-fans" be more impressed anyway by a 4-0 scoreline rather than a 1-0 or 1-1 game that was an intense match? These types of fans wouldn´t understand that sort of a match but they do get excited at cards and goals so technically the referee was doing MLS and ESPN a favor.

Those statements on SBI are crap, but so is the angle of that picture. Larentowicz's leg is well past the Fire player's trajectory when it was taken. If "studs up" is all it takes, then Mapp would have received a red instead of a yellow. You could "magic eye" that photo into believing he's flying right into his shin. However, his left foot is actually about two feet past him already.

BTW, you should think about putting "blog" somewhere in your meta header. I was searching for a Fire fan blog last week, but couldn't find a single one on the net.

Jimmy, I see your point but you need to look closely at the video again. That trailing leg you say is past him is not so at all. He catches Prideaux with it after that screenshot. A studs up challenge that high right at a guy's shin is a red card at all times. You don't actually have to maim someone for it to be so. It's really a horrific challenge.

I took another screenshot and added it as well to show how close it is and where the trailing leg is, which I'll add in a minute.

Pure horrowshow material right there.

After seeing the new screeenshots I can't see how anyone could sanely argue the finer points of red vs. yellow card in this scenario.

Good lord that's ugly.

Nice screen grab. It's clear that there has been a crack down since the nastiness of the most recent leg break in the Premiership. But then again, the MLS had leg breaks from these types of tackles in our short history. An excellent call. And if it would have been the other way around, I certainly wouldn't be complaining either for the referee's on top of it on the pitch on the ball decision.

The challenge is similar to the one on Edwardo of Arsenal. There were several people calling for that player to be suspended or even banned from the EPL. Not one person questioned him receiving a red card.

All this when it was obvious that he had no intent to hurt the other player, but it was a poorly timed tackle.

Compare that to this tackle, where there's no question of the intent to injure the player... The play on the field is supposed to finally come first in MLS and that is what will drive the ratings. Crying that a ref should consider TV ratings when making a decision is pathetic and a disgrace to the game!