Chad Barrett fined by MLS Disciplinary Committee for 'escalating incident' with Whitecaps

There were no yellow cards issued at the time, but the MLS Disciplinary Committee has meted out some punishment for Saturday's incident between the Seattle Sounders and Vancouver Whitecaps that started with Gonzalo Pineda slapping the ball away from Carl Robinson. Both teams have been warned for mass confrontation and Chad Barrett and Pedro Morales were each fined undisclosed amounts for "escalating the incident" and "making contact to the head", respectively.

Here's the video of the entire thing:

After the game, Pineda was willing to accept his share of blame, saying he shouldn't have slapped the ball away from Robinson. He explained that he was under the impression it was the Sounders' ball and was annoyed when Robinson tried to keep it away from him. Pineda also said he apologized to Robinson after the game.

That said, Pineda's slap was pretty minor and it's not particularly surprising the DC chose not to punish him. It's equally understandable that they did fine Barrett and Morales, although Barrett's sticking up for Pineda seems like the type of thing you want teammates to do.