TUKWILA, Wash. — The Seattle Sounders have chosen not to appeal captain Brad Evans’ one-game suspension for his red card against the Vancouver Whitecaps last Sunday, General Manager and President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey announced on Thursday.
The review of a red card is not done by the MLS Disciplinary Committee, but by a separate and independent committee of three referees. Teams that appeal must prove to this committee that their colleague made a serious and obvious error.
“We always support our players, that’s always our preference,” Lagerwey said. “But what matters in situations like this is not what we believe, but what we can prove. In our conversations internally and with folks around the league, we didn’t feel that we were able to meet that standard and therefore we chose not to appeal.”
Referee Ricardo Salazar issued the red card to Evans in the 84th minute of the Sounders' 2-1 win, just minutes after he scored the eventual game-winning goal on a penalty kick, for what Salazar deemed was an attempted headbutt on Whitecaps defender David Edgar.
Evans did not appear to make contact with Edgar, but was still ejected for the attempted violent conduct. Salazar also ejected Vancouver midfielder Pedro Morales earlier in the match for an elbow to the face of Cristian Roldan, and on Wednesday the MLS Disciplinary Committee suspended Whitecaps forward Blas Perez for one game for violent conduct on the Sounders’ Herculez Gomez.
Evans played just 19 minutes on Sunday after coming on as a substitute in his first appearance since Aug. 28. He had been recovering from lower back and calf injuries that forced him out of all four September matches.
On Wednesday, interim head coach Brian Schmetzer said he had a conversation with Evans about making sure he and the team remain composed and on the pitch.
The Sounders captain will miss the team’s home game against the last-place Houston Dynamo on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. PT; JOEtv, KIRO Radio 97.3FM, El Rey 1360AM).
