Should the Colorado Rapids’ all-important insurance goal against the Seattle Sounders on Saturday night have counted? Not so fast, says MLSsoccer.com analyst Brian Dunseth.
Dunseth said on the site’s Instant Replay series on Monday that Rapids forward Kevin Doyle was in an offside position when he played a cross from Dennis Castillo in the 86th minute, toe-poking the ball past Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei to cap the Rapids’ 3-1 win.
Watch the full Instant Replay video above.
Although the goal was later nominated for the AT&T Goal of the Week, it clearly struck a nerve with Sounders captain and defender Brad Evans, who was issued a pair of yellow cards by head referee Jorge Gonzalez for abusive language shortly after the goal.
Evans said following the match he was arguing the goal and for a lack of consistency in Gonzalez’s calls on harsh fouls during the match. Dunseth said on Instant Replay that Evans took particular exception to a 85th-minute tackle from Rapids midfielder Sam Cronin on Sounders forward Aaron Kovar near midfield, a tackle Dunseth said “definitely could have seen red” for Cronin.
“I went up to [Gonzalez] and said, ‘How is that any different than my tackle in the first half?’ He said, ‘It’s different, it’s different,” Evans said after the match. “I said, ‘You need to talk to me,’ he said, ‘No.’ I gave him an expletive and he gave me a yellow card.
“I said, ‘It’s your duty to talk to me on the field, he said, ‘No it’s not.’ I gave him another expletive and that was the double yellow.
The red card was just the second of Evans’ 10-year career and his first in an MLS regular season game in eight years with th Sounders. He’ll be forced to miss the team’s game against Columbus Crew SC on Saturday.
