Revolution defender Antonio Delamea will be with his teammates when they head to Florida to play Orlando City SC this weekend, after Major League Soccer’s Independent Review Panel rescinded the Slovenian’s red card from last Saturday’s loss to New York City FC.
The decision of the three-man board — a representative each from US Soccer, the Canadian Soccer Association, and PRO Referees — was unanimous.
Delamea had been sent off in the ninth minute of the Revs’ match with the Pigeons, forcing New England — who were ahead, 1-0, following Juan Fernando Caicedo’s second-minute tally — to play the remainder of the match down a man. Delamea was shown to have won the ball from Valentin Castellanos, who then fell to the ground.
Delamea was the last man Castellanos had to beat before going in on Matt Turner, and it was ruled a Denial of a Goal-Scoring Opportunity (DOGSO).
Bruce Arena noted during Tuesday’s media availability that they had appealed the decision.
In addition to the red card being taken away, the resulting fine has also been wiped clean.
The Revs will be without Juan Agudelo and Wilfried Zahibo on Saturday night after receiving cautions against NYCFC.
BSJ Analysis
Chalk one up to justice — even though it really shouldn’t have come to this.
We said it Saturday night: man-in-the-middle Silviu Pestrescu and VAR official Guido Gonzalez, Jr. did not have the greatest of afternoons in the Bronx. A handful of cards issued, plus the now-meaningless red card… what still has me perplexed is just what did they see when Delamea won the ball? How could they have come to such a decision when replays showed it was clear and obvious the Slovenian had won it?
After review, @MLSVAR has determined this was a red card offense#NERevs pic.twitter.com/S8mQW2t3Tw
— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) September 7, 2019