Major League Soccer’s Disciplinary Committee (DisCo) has leveled a one-game suspension and a fine to Jermaine Jones for a 17th-minute tackle on Cristian Colemán in the LA Galaxy’s 2-1 loss to FC Dallas last Saturday. Jones, who was given a yellow card for the tackle by Head Referee Kevin Stott and his officiating crew, will miss the LA Galaxy’s tie with the Portland Timbers.
Fox Sports’ Stuart Holden was the first person to report the suspension of Jones, via twitter, on Tuesday night. Holden tweeted out a GIF of the play that shows Jones arriving late and catching Colemán from behind.
Hearing @MLS Dis Co. will retroactively suspend Jermaine Jones 1 match for this tackle (thx @TotalMLS), which was initially deemed a Yellow. pic.twitter.com/oatiaIRYYn
— Stuart Holden (@stuholden) March 8, 2017
Jones was suspended for the first six games of the Colorado Rapids season in 2016 for his conduct towards a match official in the last game of the 2015 season when playing for New England.
Also suspended retroactively by the Disciplinary Committee, and perhaps a bigger loss to an injury plagued team, is LA Galaxy left back, Dave Romney. The DisCo deemed a 52nd-minute foul committed by FC Dallas defender Hernán Grana, that resulted in a Galaxy penalty kick, to instead be embellishment by Romney. Romney will also miss the game against the Portland Timbers.
This puts a Los Angeles team that is already having to adjust to injuries even further back in their shallow depth chart. Romney has been playing for the injured Ashley Cole, and his opposite, at right back, has been Rafa Garcia, playing for an injured Robbie Rogers.
LA can pretty easily slide Sebastian Lletget into the central midfield to cover for Jones, while Ema Boateng can fill in for Lletget on the wing. But who replace Romney at left back is anyone’s guess. A good guess is that Nathan Smith gets his MLS debut at left back and reprises his performance from the Galaxy’s last preseason game — which was against the Timbers.
But regardless of the players available, the Galaxy will continue to open the season under duress — first with injuries and now with suspensions.
The Galaxy will host the Portland Timbers on Sunday, March 12 at 4:00 PM. The game can be watched live on Fox Sports 1.