The U.S. Soccer Federation will review tape of a skirmish in Tuesday night’s Open Cup game between D.C. United and Chicago involving the Fire’s Cuauhtemoc Blanco and United’s Marc Burch and Clyde Simms. Both Blanco and Burch received red cards in the first period of overtime after Blanco attempted to punch the ball out of Simms’ hands. Burch pushed Blanco over, and then Blanco “appeared to hit Simms in the face,” writes Paul Tenorio.
Blanco also head-butted a D.C. United game-day operations employee as he was being escorted off the field, “according to sources close to the situation.” USSF spokesman Neil Buethe said the Federation’s disciplinary committee “will meet in the near future and review any actions taken by Blanco and any other players and make a ruling on whether he has any additional suspension over the one-game suspension for the red card.”
D.C. refrained from commenting on the specifics of the incident, but said it will send the footage to MLS, which has no jurisdiction over USSF-organized games. Fire spokesman Gregg Elkin maintained that Blanco did not head-butt anyone. “[Blanco] did stop at the bench to pick up whatever and the guy got on him, and when he turned to leave, his forehead did graze the cheek or jaw area,” Elkin said. Save it for the disciplinary committee, son.