In the pantheon of dumb red cards, the second yellow for taking one’s jersey off after scoring is usually top of the list.
But on Saturday night, LA Galaxy defender Martin Cáceres introduced a new, possibly even dumber category: the second yellow for interfering with a referee during a VAR review.
It’s important to remember that video reviews are for referees, not for players. The referee, not the player, is called over to the monitor to review a play. Players don’t get to watch the replay and tell the referee what they think. The video control room is staffed with referees, not with players.
Cáceres is a veteran, and probably knew all of this. And yet, the Uruguayan defender still managed to earn one of the all-time dumbest (and funniest) red cards in MLS history in a 3-0 away defeat to the Houston Dynamo.
With LA down 1-0 in the second half, referee Alex Chilowicz was called over to the monitor to check out a potential penalty against the Galaxy.
Cáceres, who, it should be emphasized, has 116 caps for Uruguay and has featured in four World Cups, decided that Chilowicz needed a little help.
Galaxy are fully a meme team. It's official. pic.twitter.com/C3Uxz8HmrA
— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) April 9, 2023
As it turned out, Chilowicz did not need a little help.
The Galaxy went down a man and two goals after the penalty was awarded and Houston converted. From there it was simply damage control for the visitors, who also saw Douglas Costa sent off in stoppage time for slamming Brooklyn Raines to the turf with the ball out of play.
Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney, as you might imagine, was not enthused with the unforced errors from two of his most experienced players.
“Yeah, it’s unacceptable. They know it’s unacceptable,” Vanney said in his post-game press conference. “They apologized to the group, but it’s not acceptable. It can’t happen. These guys are veterans in our team. They’re supposed to be leaders in our team. They need to set examples. They need to, again, control their emotions, and we need them available always, and they understand that, and it’s not acceptable.”
Vanney is right to be upset but for the neutrals, discovering a new category of dumb red card is nothing short of a resounding success.
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