The Sounders left Carson, Calif. with one point after their 0-0 draw with the LA Galaxy. The Galaxy played the final few minutes down to 10 men after Jelle Van Damme picked up his second yellow of the night. However, Simon Borg feels that the Galaxy should have been playing with 10 men for all of the second half.
In this week’s Instant Replay, there were three incidents looked at by Borg. The first play looked at was Nouhou’s “tackle” on Romain Alessandrini in the first half. In the 31st minute, Nouhou and Alessandrini were in the penalty box and as Nouhou tried to make a play on the ball, Alessandrini went down with no contact. If anything, Alessandrini should have been issued a yellow card for simulation. Nouhou let him know.
Game recognize game. pic.twitter.com/X2LGRnTaz2
— Sounder At Heart (@sounderatheart) July 30, 2017
The second incident came right before the first half ended. Jermaine Jones took Nicolas Lodeiro out from behind with a slide tackle. He was issued a yellow card but Borg felt, as do I, that Jones should have been issued a straight red for endangering the safety of an opponent. That would have dramatically changed the game and could have swung things in favor for the Sounders. Remember, VAR begins this coming weekend and that play would have been reviewable.
In the 86th minute, Van Damme was issued his second yellow card for unsporting behavior but according to Borg, it should have been a straight red card for his two-footed tackle on Lodeiro. That one wouldn’t have made much difference in this game, though.