Marco Fabián will miss Columbus Crew game with additional one-game suspension

Marco Fabián has been hit with an undisclosed fine and will miss tomorrow’s game against Columbus Crew while serving an additional one-game suspension for “violent conduct,” the MLS Disciplinary Committee announced on Friday.

The MLS Disciplinary Committee has issued an undisclosed fine and an additional game suspension (two games total) to Philadelphia Union midfielder Marco Fabián for violent conduct during the 58th minute of Philadelphia’s match against Sporting Kansas City on March 10. Fabián, who initially received a red card for the incident, served his first match suspension on March 17 against Atlanta United. Fabián will serve his additional game suspension on March 23 against Columbus Crew SC

Union Sporting Director Ernst Tanner released a statement questioning the decision.

“In my opinion, it is an incorrect decision,” Tanner wrote. “Mr. Penso was observing the play in a good position...and that means there is no reason for the VAR to step in. Marco did not intend to step on Johnny maliciously; he could not even see what he was landing on because his view was of the ball, which is something we wishes was taken into account.”

Fabián’s additional suspension comes at a particularly challenging time for head coach Jim Curtin, who has five players away on international duty (Andre Blake, Cory Burke, Warren Creavalle, Derrick Jones and Matt Real) and three players from the first team roster dealing with injuries (Sergio Santos, Kacper Przybylko and Fabinho).

The Crew will also be missing some key players with Zack Steffen out dealing with a minor injury and Wil Trapp, Gyasi Zardes, Justin Meram and Waylon Francis all away on international duty.

There are currently 16 players from the first team roster available for selection on Sunday. That’s not counting Jamiro Monteiro, whose visa status is still in question.

Should the Cape Verde international midfielder be available, another international player would have to be loaned down to Steel. Santos and Burke are ineligible to be loaned and while suspended players have played in USL in the past it’s not clear whether the league would allow the Union to loan Fabián down and use his international spot. This could mean that Jack Elliott or Olivier Mbaizo would be sent to Steel to meet roster compliance.

Either way it looks like the Union will only have five players on the bench.