Major League Soccer: Stats: Discipline

l Discipline

Updated: July 1, 2008

Suspensions/Fine

Dema Kovalenko
Real Salt Lake
Suspension/Fine: 7/3/08 vs. HOU, $250
Reason: Caution Accumulation

Card Suspensions

Red card and caution point accumulation suspensions collected in Regular Season Games shall be served in a Player's next Regular Season Game. Any suspensions for yellow card points earned in a Player's last Regular Season Game will not carry over into the Playoffs, or into the next League Season.

However, the applicable fine will be collected in the current Season. Any Players who receives a red card in his last Game of the Season (Regular Season or Playoffs), will serve the one Game suspension during their next Game (whether it's during the Playoffs, Championship Game, or in the next Regular Season Game of the following season). All red card and caution point suspensions will, if necessary, follow a Player to a new Team. All fines associated with cautions or send-offs will be collected in the current season (before the calendar year expires).

Suspension Carry-Overs

Any suspensions for yellow cards earned in a player's last Regular Season Game shall not carry over into the Playoffs or into the next League Season. However, the applicable fine will be collected in the current Season. Players who receive a red card in their last Game of the Season (Regular Season, Playoff or Cup) shall serve the one-game suspension during their next Game (whether it is during the Playoffs, Championship Game, or the next League Regular Season Game). All red card suspensions will, if necessary, follow a Player to a new team for the next League Season.

The following players are one caution from suspension

Player -- Team -- Number of Cautions -- Good Behavior Incentive
Diego Gutierrez -- Chicago Fire -- 4 -- 3 more games
Bakary Soumare -- Chicago Fire -- 4 -- 1 more games
John Thorrington -- Chicago Fire -- 4 -- 3 more games
Paulo Nagamura -- Chivas USA -- 4 -- 3 more games
Marc Burch -- DC United -- 4 -- 1 more game
Marcelo Saragosa -- FC Dallas -- 4 -- N/A
Ricardo Clark -- Houston Dynamo -- 4 -- N/A
Dwayne DeRosario -- Houston Dynamo -- 4 -- 3 more games
Amaechi Igwe -- New England Revolution -- 4 -- 2 more games
Kevin Goldthwaite -- New York Red Bulls -- 4 -- 3 more games
Sinisa Ubiparipovic -- New York Red Bulls -- 4 -- 1 more game
Kenny Deuchar -- Real Salt Lake -- 4 -- 3 more games
Romario Corrales -- San Jose Earthquakes -- 4 -- N/A
Eric Denton -- San Jose Earthquakes -- 4 -- 3 more games
Nick Garcia -- San Jose Earthquakes -- 4 -- 2 more games
Maurice Edu -- Toronto FC -- 4 -- 3 more games
Laurent Robert -- Toronto FC -- 4 -- 3 more games

The following players are two cautions from suspension

Player -- Team -- Number of Cautions
Cuauhtemoc Blanco -- Chicago Fire -- 3
Brandon Prideaux -- Chicago Fire -- 3
Gonzalo Segares -- Chicago Fire -- 3
Jonathan Bornstein -- Chivas USA -- 3
Maykel Galindo -- Chivas USA -- 3
Atiba Harris -- Chivas USA -- 3
Sacha Kljestan -- Chivas USA -- 3
Jesse Marsch -- Chivas USA -- 3
Shavar Thomas -- Chivas USA -- 3
Frankie Hejduk -- Columbus Crew -- 3
Adam Moffat -- Columbus Crew -- 3
Rod Dyachenko -- DC United -- 3
Marcelo Gallardo -- DC United -- 3
Gonzalo Martinez -- DC United -- 3
Pablo Ricchetti -- FC Dallas -- 3
Andre Rocha -- FC Dallas -- 3
Bobby Boswell -- Houston Dynamo -- 3
Stuart Holden -- Houston Dynamo -- 3
Jack Jewsbury -- Kansas City Wizards -- 3
Kerry Zavagnin -- Kansas City Wizards -- 3
Alan Gordon -- Los Angeles Galaxy -- 3
Brandon McDonald -- Los Angeles Galaxy -- 3
Greg Vanney -- Los Angeles Galaxy -- 3
Jay Heaps -- New England Revolution -- 3
Jeff Larentowicz -- New England Revolution -- 3
Sainey Nyassi -- New England Revolution -- 3
Kyle Beckerman -- Real Salt Lake -- 3
Jamison Olave -- Real Salt Lake -- 3
Ryan Cochrane -- San Jose Earthquakes -- 3
Jason Hernandez -- San Jose Earthquakes -- 3
James Riley -- San Jose Earthquakes -- 3
Jeff Cunningham -- Toronto FC -- 3
Amada Guevara -- Toronto FC -- 3

Regular Season Caution Accumulation
A player who accumulates five (5) yellow cards over the course of the MLS Regular Season shall be suspended from the next Regular Season game in which he is eligible to appear and fined $250. After imposition of the first fine and one-game suspension for accumulating five (5) yellow cards over the course of an MLS Regular Season, a player who accumulates an additional three (3) yellow cards shall be suspended from the next regular season game in which he is eligible to appear and fined $500. After the imposition of the second fine and one-game suspension by virtue of accumulating eight (8) yellow cards over the course of a regular season, that player shall be suspended for one MLS Regular Season game and fined $750 for each accumulation of three (3) yellow cards awarded to him in any remaining MLS Regular Season games.

Good Behavior Incentive
If a player receives a caution during the Regular Season that brings him within one caution of any of the suspension thresholds (e.g., 4 cautions, 7 cautions), he shall be placed on "Warning." If a player is placed on "Warning" and appears in THREE (3) consecutive games without receiving a caution, being sent off or sanctioned by the MLS Disciplinary Committee for an infraction that occurs during one of the THREE (3) consecutive games, that player's personal caution total shall be reduced by ONE (1) caution. A player may only benefit from the Good Behavior Incentive one time per season.

Notice of Fine

5 Cautions: Dema Kovalenko, $250

8 Cautions: None

Cautions for dissent

Laurent Robert, Toronto FC ($200)

Cautions for lack of respect for the game

Ante Razov, Chivas USA, Landon Donovan, Los Angeles Galaxy, Andy Iro, Columbus Crew ($100); Amado Guevara, Toronto FC ($200)

*MLS teams are assessed a matching team fine for their players' cumulative individual fines for yellow cards issued for either "dissent" or "showing a lack of respect for the game."

League Fair Play Table

rank	team	gp	yellow	red	fouls	clean gp	pts gp	total pts
1	Colorado Rapids	14	17	3	162	5	7.4	104.0
2	New England Revolution	16	20	2	195	4	8.6	137.5
3	Toronto FC	14	20	2	167	3	9.9	138.5
4	Columbus Crew	14	24	2	151	3	10.5	146.5
5	Chicago Fire	13	24	1	134	1	12.2	158.0
6	Kansas City Wizards	13	22	2	142	1	12.6	164.0
7	New York Red Bulls	14	22	2	202	1	13.9	194.0
8	Los Angeles Galaxy	14	25	2	187	1	14.2	198.5
9	D.C. United	15	31	2	186	2	13.8	207.0
10	FC Dallas	15	27	3	183	1	14.3	214.5
11	Real Salt Lake	16	26	2	222	0	14.7	235.0
12	Houston Dynamo	16	33	1	221	1	14.8	237.5
13	San Jose Earthquakes	14	33	3	196	0	18.6	260.0
14	Chivas USA	14	33	4	251	0	21.3	297.5

MLS Teams are assessed fair play points and ranked in the fair play table as follows:

4 points for each caution point received (e.g. 5 cautions = 20 points)
10 points for each red card earned (e.g. 5 red cards in a year = 50 points)
.5 points for each foul committed (e.g. 400 fouls = 200 points)
A reduction of 15 points for every game played by a team without their receiving either a yellow or red card, or a member of their team being a recipient of MLS Disciplinary Committee action in conjunction with that game (e.g. 3 "clean" games = -45 points).

The team with the least amount of points at the end of the regular season will be awarded the Kraft Team Fair Play Award.