HANOVER, N.J. — Gerhard Struber finds himself under fire for not taking action after last weekend’s match against the San Jose Earthquakes was marred by a New York Red Bulls player using a racial epithet.
The game was stopped in the second half when Earthquakes forward Jeremy Ebobisse claimed that a Red Bulls player, later revealed to be Dante Vanzeir, had used a slur.
During the elongated delay to investigate the claim, Struber did not remove the player from the pitch on his own, or after being exhorted to do so by San Jose head coach Luchi Gonzalez. The Red Bulls coach instead chose to keep the most expensive player on his roster on the field for over 30 more minutes.
Vanzeir has since admitted his offense and stepped away from the club. On Thursday, Struber addressed the situation — including his own underwhelming response — at length.
“Right now I can say very clear, with all my information now, I must bring Dante Vanzeir out, immediately,” said Struber. “For me this is a very, very new situation in my coaching career. I think it’s not so easy to handle always everything the right way, especially [because] this was the first time.”
It was certainly a difficult situation for Struber to navigate, but one that in many ways his own inaction made far worse. Had Struber stepped forward and removed Vanzeir, at least some of the damage to the Earthquakes and to his own club could have been mitigated.
The Red Bulls head coach didn’t focus so much on apologizing as he did on discussing how he could have better navigated the situation.
“Right now we have a situation that my boys, we’ve had many, many conversations this week with different player groups,” said Struber. “Of course with the team together so we can start the healing process. The situation hurts everyone. I feel very, very sorry for our supporters, I feel very, very sorry for our players.”
At times, Struber seemed emotional as he owned up to the fact that he failed in not pulling Vanzeir off the field after the accusations were made. Whether from an ethical standpoint or a more pragmatic one, the right thing to do would have been to substitute Vanzeir, even at the expense of a result.
One thing that became clear in the press conference is that that should Vanzeir ever return to the club, he faces an uphill battle not just to win the fans back at Red Bull Arena, but to earn a place back within the team’s locker room.
“I’m not sure what the specific consequences are for [Vanzeir],” said Red Bulls captain Sean Nealis when asked what the next steps should be. “I don’t know if they were announced or anything yet, but I think he’s got a long road to regain the trust and respect of guys in the locker room… We’ll see what the consequences are.”
On Wednesday night, Struber — along with Red Bulls general manager Marc de Grandpre — met with three supporters groups that make up Red Bull Arena’s ‘South Ward.’ Struber called it a productive and beneficial meeting.
It won’t be easy to win over the club’s ardent supporters after such a mistake. Prior to last weekend’s game, Struber was already on thin ice with some fans given the team’s lackluster start to the season. Now, following a situation where he appears to have placed points over morals, the cries from a sizable number of supporters are for the club to move on from the Austrian manager.
Struber’s future, and that of Vanzeir, remains unclear. The forward indicated he will step away from the club for an unknown period of time, and MLS has since issued a six-game suspension. Struber did not face any punishment from the league.
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