The Philadelphia Union will not have the services of starting forward Lionard Pajoy after Major League Soccer's Disciplinary Committee suspended him for one game for his challenge on Toronto FC forward Joao Plata last weekend.
Pajoy was also fined for the incident in which the Colombian striker lost the ball and went in hard against Plata, who had gained possession of the ball seconds before the challenge.
FIFA lists the following reasons for cautionable offenses (yellow cards), which was the initial assessment by the referee in the Toronto game:
"Reckless" means that the player has acted with complete disregard to the
danger to, or consequences for, his opponent.
• A player who plays in a reckless manner must be cautioned
The following are the criteria, set forth by FIFA, for send off offenses (red cards), which was how the Disciplinary committee viewed the incident:
"Using excessive force" means that the player has far exceeded the necessary
use of force and is in danger of injuring his opponent.
• A player who uses excessive force must be sent off