On a day where red cards, referees and player discipline was at the forefront of the conversation, FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman wasn’t shy in giving his feelings on the topic on Monday.
Dallas lead the league in red cards with six, but they have kept their heads throughout three physical games last week — all wins. And Hyndman is now more concerned about the fouls suffered by his players than about the fouls conceded. In particular, he remains unhappy with the consistent fouling of creative midfielder David Ferreira.
Through 10 games this season, Ferreira has been fouled 29 times, a per-game rate near the top of the league and treatment similar to what we saw before Ferreira was sidelined for more than a year with a broken ankle.
“I watch the leagues around the world and they just do not let you kick somebody from behind," Hyndman told MLSsoccer.com. "They just don’t let you do it. I think where we make a mistake sometimes, it seems to me, is that the injury sometimes affects the card. It shouldn’t be that way, it should be the infraction."
“If the infraction is that you just kicked somebody from behind and even though the guy didn’t get seriously injured, it's a red card," Hyndman continued. "If you’re consistent with that, really consistent, then that player’s not going to be kicking from behind the next game.”
However, while some coaches around the league are known for their post-game rants on officiating, Hyndman is generally not considered one who will be critical of the officials after a match and will empathisize with the tough job that referees face.
"I think I really try to understand that they have a very, very difficult job,” Hyndman said. “But where we run into a problem is you’ll have 50 percent of the referees that will call that a red card and 50 percent of referees that will not call that a red card, and all they do is really screw up the players because the players don’t know.”
