Houston's Eddie Robinson suspended three games for attack on KC's Wahl

The Houston Dynamo are rapidly becoming the Oakland Raiders of MLS as Eddie Robinson has been suspended for three matches and fined $1000 after an ugly, ugly elbow to the face of Kansas City Wizards defender Tyson Wahl (see video below).

As you can see from the video, this was a horrible, intentional act by Robinson. Combine this with Ricardo Clark's 9 game suspension for kicking the little fish last season and you have a reputation starting to take hold. (Here is the video of Clark's kick - it will open Windows Media Player).

Oddly enough, I think Robinson's act is worse then Clark's because Robinson's seems premeditated and the action is not taking place near him at the time while Clark looks to be reacting poorly to things taking place around him.

I think Clark's suspension was too harsh (the rest of the 2007 season would have been enough) and I don't think Robinson's is enough (5 games would have been more justified). Then again, Tyrone Marshall was only suspended for three games after his nasty tackle that broke Kenny Cooper's leg last season so I guess the lesson is the more physical harm you do in your attack, the less your suspension will be.

Anyway, the loss of Robinson just adds to Houston's defensive problems. Although it is only three games into the new season, it looks like the defensive giant that was Houston 2007 might be dead on the pitch. And the tears for Ryan Cochrane begin to fall in Dynamo land.

Ricardo Clark's season is over

MLS's Commissioner Don Garber gave Houston's Ricardo Clark the rest of the season off for his kick to FC Dallas's Carlos Ruiz this past Sunday. Clark will also get some time off at the start of next season, as his total suspension is 9 games. The Dynamo have three remaining matches and, at most, four playoff games, which means Clark will not take the pitch again till the third game of 2008 at the earliest. In addition to the nine games, Clark was fined $10,000 plus he cannot take place in any exhibition games for his MLS team where admission is charged. However, he can take part in international matches such as the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

Garber said of this decision, "In taking this action, Major League Soccer is sending a signal that it will not accept reckless and dangerous behavior on its fields. If there is a repeat of this kind of behavior by any MLS player, even firmer sanctions can be expected in the future."

Clark will appeal the decision through the player's union.

Interestingly enough, Carlos Ruiz, who looked like he might have knee Clark in the back right before he got Clark's boot, will only serve the two game suspension he was already going to serve (one for the red card he got on the play and one for yellow card accumulation).

The lack of Clark in the lineup is going to be a big blow for the Dynamo as he has done a large share of their heavy lifting through out the season. His skill at developing plays is not an easy one to replace, especially with Houston still getting over their injury issues.

As far as the fine itself, I can't say that it is insane as Clark really went wild with the kick. The one thing that does seem a bit much is the $10,000 fine as that is a little over 5% of his total gross salary for the year. It would be different if Clark had a history of this sort of thing, but the way it stands now, it does seem a little heavy handed.

So, if Houston and FCD end up facing off in the first round of the playoffs (a very likely event), do you think this event will be in many of the players’ heads? Also, could this have an impact on Clark's call-ups to the US MNT?