FOXBOROUGH — Brad Friedel noted Tuesday morning that he had considered pulling Scott Caldwell from the pitch in favor of an attacking player before the Braintree native’s first-ever red card Sunday night.
“We were talking about a few permutations,” Friedel said in the bowels of Gillette Stadium on Tuesday morning. “Scotty, and if you watch the (second) yellow card again, it’s a very soft, soft, soft yellow. Scotty’s an intelligent player, and if anyone can play on a yellow card, he can play on one. What we would have decided to eventually do is probably put another attacking player on, and possibly bring Scotty off. But there were a few other permutations we were thinking about, as well.”
As per his custom, Friedel didn’t elude to who he would bring on.
He also noted that referee Ted Unkel, who showed Caldwell a second yellow and therefore dismissed him from the match with DC United, a 2-nil defeat, should have looked into the “embellishment factor” when adjudging the foul in the 73rd minute.
“The player wasn’t even touched and he jumped up and he screamed like he had been hit over the head with a two-by-four, so you have to take that into account, as well,” he noted.
Prior to Sunday, Caldwell had drawn 21 cautions in 170 league matches, but never two in one match. He’ll miss Saturday’s match with Philadelphia with a one-match suspension.
Caldwell was unavailable to speak about the sending-off prior to Tuesday morning’s training session, as he was receiving regular treatment.
But we did catch up with him Wednesday morning prior to training via the phone.
In that brief interview, SC6 said that he was surprised the foul on Junior Moreno was in the realm of another card.
"I didn't expect that to be a yellow card offense, but at the same time, I put myself in that situation, and if you put your play in the hands of someone else then anything can happen," he said.
Caldwell said he doesn't recall how heated he was after Unkel showed him the second yellow and the subsequent red -- FS1's camera's showed him as looking in disbelief as he walked toward the locker room -- but that "a lot of emotions and feelings were going through my mind" in the immediate aftermath.
"Mostly just frustration that I gave my team a very tough mountain to climb in the last 15 or so minutes of the game, and knowing that I could have been smarter in my play," he said. "Watching my teammates play a man down is not easy, and knowing I was the cause of it is not a good feeling. It's something I wish I could take back, looking back at the end."
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- 2016: 26 points
- 2015: 31 points
- 2014: 30 points
- 2013: 33 points
- 2012: 23 points
- 2011: 21 points
- 2017: seventh, 45 points (13-15-6)
- 2016: seventh, 42 (11-14-9)
- 2015: fifth, 50 (14-12-8; lost to DC United in the knockout round)
- 2014: second, 55 (17-13-4; lost to LA Galaxy in MLS Cup Final)
- 2013: third, 51 (14-11-9; lost to Sporting Kansas City in Conference Semis)
- 2012: ninth, 35 (9-17-8)
- 2011: ninth (dead last in East), 28 (5-16-13)
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