Real Salt Lake appeals Diego Luna's red card against Toronto as officiating sparks frustrations throughout MLS
The club has filed an appeal to retroactively rescind Luna’s red card received during the club’s 1-0 loss to Toronto FC, a team source told Salt City Soccer.
Real Salt Lake has begun the process of getting reigning MLS Young Player of the Year Diego Luna back for the beginning of a three-game road trip.
The club has filed an appeal to retroactively rescind Luna’s red card received during the club’s 1-0 loss to Toronto FC, a team source told Salt City Soccer. No timeline on the appeal decision was initially given.
Barring the appeal, Luna would be suspended one match under MLS protocols, a rule that includes a suspension via a straight red card or second-yellow offense. Depending on the severity of the incident, the MLS Disciplinary Committee has also been known to extend such suspensions.
Obviously in Luna’s case with RSL, the opposite is the most-hoped outcome.
Luna received a straight red card 11 minutes into the second half for what VAR considered to be “violent conduct,” leaving RSL down a man the rest of the match.
Toronto’s Raoul Petretta also received a yellow card from head referee Sergii Demianchuk during the same incident.
It’s the first red card of Luna’s four-year MLS career, and the second time since March 22 that an RSL player has been shown red. His coaches and teammates quickly came to his defense, with team captain Emeka Eneli event speaking with Demianchuk as he exited the field Saturday night.
“We are grown men; we know what’s happening. When you play good, when you play bad, you know what’s happening,” RSL left back Alex Katranis said after the match.
“We need to talk; you have eyes. You saw the game, no? You saw the game in Nashville? You saw the game at home where Ari took the red card? Something’s up; we need to talk.
“Ari gets a red card. Soft, but we get it. Dominik takes an elbow in his throat, and nothing. I asked the referee why there was no red card, and he told me, he tried to turn. I’m a left back; I don’t turn with my elbow in his throat. I’m sorry — It is what it is. You give him a red card. And the same guy after, he scored a goal.
“I’m not here to say we’re losing because of the referee. It’s different. We’re going to see our mistakes, because we are not where we want to be. But it’s impossible if we play 11 against 14-15. The VAR two games in a row called the referee to review his decision. And you want to tell me they reviewed this on Diego, and it’s a red card? Come on.”
Across the league, players and coaches have been increasingly frustrated with the quality of officiating from the PRO referees’ association — and more than just Demianchuk, a seventh-year veteran of MLS who has awarded four red cards, 16 yellow cards and three penalty kicks in the last three matches.
“They just want to be the kings of the castle,” Portland Timbers manager Phil Neville said of MLS officiating this season. “They just want to show they’re the main people in this league and, unfortunately, it’s just not good.”
The incident involved Luna and Petretta was the lead item on MLS’s official matchday review, “Instant Replay,” where host Andrew Wiebe notes Petretta was “squeezing with the famous leg lock.”
The video review by VAR official Drew Fischer indicated that the review implied Luna’s foul “was not violent conduct,” Wiebe said. Still, the call was upheld.
“For me, this is not violent conduct,” Wiebe said. “I see a natural motion by Diego Luna to try to get his foot out while Petretta squeezes — and by the way, keeps on squeezing and holding that foot in until the very end. I’m looking hard for a stamp or a stud drag of any kind, and I’m just not seeing it.
“For me, this is not a red card.”
RSL is at expansion side San Diego FC on Saturday, the first of three straight road matches for the Salt Lake squad that currently sits 11th in the Western Conference with a 3-6-0 record (9 points).