For the third team in the two plus month old 2011 MLS Season a player has suffered a broken bone as a result of a tackle. This weekend it was Javier Morales of Real Salt Lake who broke his ankle during this tackle by Chivas USA's Marcos Mondaini:
This tackle induced injury comes on the heels of two other high profile incidents where tackles resulted in broken bones.
First there was Brian Mullan's tackle on Steve Zakuani on April 22nd:
And then 2010 MLS MVP David Ferreira broke his ankle on April 23rd when he was tackled by Jonathan Leathers:
We know that Mullan was suspended for 10 games and that Leathers, who was not carded for the tackle, was not disciplined for his tackle. Mondaini received a red card but, as of this posting, the MLS disciplinary committee has yet to rule on whether he'll receive an any additional punishment for the tackle.
It's also important to point out that while Dejan Jakovic's recent tackle on Geoff Cameron did not result in any broken bones, the tackle was not all that different from Mullan's tackle on Zakuani, but Jakovic was not disciplined by the committee.
Not surprisingly, this recent string of tackles has resulted in a large amount of chatter amongst MLS fans and journalists who cover MLS, but nobody seems to have a good idea as to what MLS should do about these tackles.
So now it's your chance to use the comments section of this column to explain what you think MLS should do to prevent reckless tackles that result in broken bones in the future. Or, maybe you don't think MLS should do anything about this issue, if so, use the comments section to explain why you feel that way.
I'll wait about a week, see what people say, and then do a column about your responses and my thoughts on the matter. Please type freely and let's not get into flaming wars. All opinions are valid, because they are opinions.
