Sandro Schwarz, Anger Against Officials and Suarez

On a night when Lionel Messi and his friends from Inter Miami came for their annual visit to Sports Illustrated Stadium to face the New York Red Bulls, many were expecting a big match between these two sides. Sadly, it became one-way traffic after Alexander Hack got the early lead 14 minutes in. As the South Beach football club took advantage of the poor defending, something else was brewing from a certain Uruguayan that shouldn’t have happened.

After Lionel Messi scored his first of two goals at the hour mark, the big, terrible moment happened four minutes later. Red Bulls Head Coach Sandro Schwarz was inside his technical area, giving instructions to his players on the pitch to push forward and get a second goal. Then, out of nowhere, Luis Suarez left the playing field by himself and shoved Schwarz, who had never initiated anything negative towards Suarez.

That moment made Schwarz angry, and he didn’t understand why Suraez would attack him in that manner. Jordi Alba approached Sandro and apologized for Suraez’s actions. Still, his assistant coach, Volkan Bulut, was visibly upset and wanted referee Victor Rivas to issue a card of any color to Suraez for his decision to antagonize Schwarz. Unfortunately, it was Bulut who received the yellow card for no apparent reason, simply for defending his head coach.

I don’t understand why Luis Suarez would intentionally go after Sandro or any member of the New York Red Bulls when they have a four-goal lead and are dominating the match. It is truly pathetic and disgusting when a player like Luis Suarez, an all-time legend in Uruguayan football, will retire from the game altogether at the end of this season.

However, what angers me is not seeing referee Victor Rivas issue Suarez a card of any color for an attempt at violent conduct against the opposition’s head coach, who never initiated any form of verbal or physical altercation. Suarez didn’t have permission to leave the pitch due to suffering an injury or being substituted out; he just ran up to Sandro and physically shoved him inside his technical area.

Sure, Rivas had to give Ronald Donkor a yellow card for playing the ball, leaping in the air to head it away, while at the same time bumping down Messi. While that play was a foul, it wasn’t a yellow card offense as Rivas was showing favoritism toward the greatest player of this era in the game. Yet, not giving Suarez any card for going at Sandro is frustrating, and was he given special orders to protect Miami’s players?

After the match ended and Schwarz went to the post-match interview, toward the end, you could see his frustrations and how angry he was that this happened in MLS. He didn’t understand why the referee would allow such conduct to go unpunished. If this ever happened in any league in the world, including the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga, or even the excellent Liga MX and the numerous leagues in South America, Suarez would likely receive a yellow card or be sent off.

Suppose the Disciplinary Committee doesn’t have the nerve to fine and give Suarez a one-match suspension for his foolish decision to assault Schwarz inside his Technical Area. In that case, MLS is doing the bidding of Don Garber, and that is not a good look for this league. While I understand that this is Suarez’s swan song of the season, he shouldn’t have to avoid being tagged for at least a one-game suspension before the Leagues Cup begins next week.

Hopefully, the Red Bulls have filed a protest with the League, the disciplinary committee, and PRO Referees, as they should also find a way to admonish referee Victor Rivas for failing to protect Head Coach Sandro Schwarz. Additionally, they should demand that Volkan Bulut’s yellow card be abolished. Any head coach from the 30 clubs in MLS should always be protected from players who condone this type of violent action for no reason at all. Unfortunately, the club refuses to comment on the matter.

While Inter Miami boasts great players from past FC Barcelona years, including Messi, Busquets, Jordi Alba, and Suarez, they shouldn’t have a protective shield every time there is a foul, nor should they avoid yellow or red cards to keep them in the game. That also applies to their head coach, Javier Mascherano, when he oversteps his bounds against the officials and the opposing team. This is not right, and something must be done to fix this issue.