MLS suspends Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini six games for referee criticism

MLS has suspended Vancouver Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini for a total of six games, the league announced Thursday.

Sartini had already earned an automatic one-game suspension as a result of receiving a red card at the end of Vancouver’s playoff loss to LAFC on Nov. 5. Thursday’s punishment adds an additional five games to that suspension for entering the field of play in a confrontational manner and public criticism following the match. Sartini has also been issued a $20,000 fine and must complete a league-approved behavioral assessment. The league’s press release added that Sartini may petition to reduce his suspension “(b)ased on his compliance within any recommended treatment programs.”

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The Whitecaps’ match on Nov. 5 ended in controversy, as referee Tim Ford blocked a Whitecaps player from picking up a loose ball on a corner kick, contributing to an LAFC counter-attack that ended in a goal that was eventually ruled out for offside.

After the match, Sartini said of the officiating: “If they found [Ford] in False Creek then I’m going to be a suspect. I’m not saying that I would do it, I’m saying I’m the first suspect — it’s different.”

Sartini was clear he was joking, but it didn’t land well.

At other times in the press conference, Sartini called the referee’s performance “shameful,” “a disgrace,” and “f—ing horrible”.

The Professional Soccer Referees Association (PSRA), a union for professional officials in the United States, tweeted the next day calling for a full review from MLS.

“Vancouver head coach Vanni Sartini’s postgame comments last night are disgusting & take the rhetoric against Officials – at all levels – to dangerous levels,” the PRSA wrote on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter. “His comments go against every value in sports. It is our expectation MLS undertakes a rigorous disciplinary review here.”

The news comes after MLS officially announced a three-game suspension of FC Cincinnati center back Matt Miazga for entering the official’s locker room following Cincy’s win over the New York Red Bulls on Nov. 4.

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Miazga suspended 3 games for ref confrontation

(Photo: Simon Fearn-USA TODAY Sports)

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