Wicks gets the Blanco treatment
By: Craig Stouffer
Examiner Staff Writer
10/06/09 11:20 AM EDT
In the same manner that U.S. Soccer hacked off Cuauhtemoc Blanco's U.S. Open Cup eligibility -- essentially, for good -- last year after his incident-filled experience vs. D.C. United at Maryland SoccerPlex -- banning him for six games or two years, whichever came first -- United goalkeeper Josh Wicks has been handed the greater of an additional four games or one-year suspension from the tournament.
Wicks already had the mandatory one-game suspension via the red card he earned for stomping on Seattle forward Fredy Montero in the U.S. Open Cup final. He also "refused to leave the field of play in a timely fashion and used highly inflammatory language to insult the fourth official," according the USSF, giving rise to the additional penalty.
If you recall, Blanco got a red card, also took his sweet time leaving the field and then tried to head-butt a game operations official.
The suspension does not affect Wicks' eligibility for Open Cup play-in games, which are administered by MLS. The usual format once MLS teams are in the tournament itself consists of four matches if a team advances all the way to the final. The format could change next year, or Wicks might find himself banned for the first game in 2011, too, if D.C. goes all the way to the final in 2010.
He has until the end of business Tuesday to appeal.
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