MLS fines Silva for diving

[Pookie]

Absolutely love this.

MLS announced on Thursday the MLS Disciplinary Committee has fined D.C. United midfielder Luis Silva an undisclosed amount for simulation in the 79th minute of the game against the Columbus Crew on March 8.

Silva entered a 50-50 challenge for the ball with Crew defender Michael Parkhurst on the edge of Columbus' box on the play in question, but fell over on what appeared to be little to no contact. He was not issued a yellow card for that play during the match, a 3-0 win for Columbus.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/articl...ion-vs-columbu

[Oldtimer]

I'll always have respect for him as a former Red, however I didn't like him diving when he was a Red, and I'm glad he got what he deserved now. Cheating should have no place in MLS.

[Ron Manager]

It's great to see the league reviewing incidents post game. On field refs will never eliminate this blight on the game, things happen too fast. Post game video review and heavy fines are the answer.

[ag futbol]

This is one great thing MLS does where other leagues are behind. They've also gone back in the past and suspended some cheap-shot artists who have gone under the radar during the game.

Who doesn't remember stuff like Rivaldo diving during the WC? Or that time Kaka got gamed when another player simply ran into him and feigned injury. It's the sort of thing it's silly there isn't replay for because they spend about 10 minutes on the field sorting it out anyway.

[Ron Manager]

This is one great thing MLS does where other leagues are behind. They've also gone back in the past and suspended some cheap-shot artists who have gone under the radar during the game.

Who doesn't remember stuff like Rivaldo diving during the WC? Or that time Kaka got gamed when another player simply ran into him and feigned injury. It's the sort of thing it's silly there isn't replay for because they spend about 10 minutes on the field sorting it out anyway.

I tend to agree, but video review after the game is far less intrusive and will hopefully eliminate (or at least greatly reduce) that crap and not interfere with flow of play. Once you introduce in game review, you'll be stuck with it even once the problem is resolved and game flow will be forever affected.
The only other thing I'd like to see is a fine for the club as well as the player. Put some responsibility on the club for creating a Fair Play culture.

[OfficeGuy]

Yes, I would welcome a review of players feigning incidents - the Referees can't catch everything and Brazilians have truly mastered this horrible practice which really takes away from their passionate playing style

[19Barrett19]

diving is done all over the world when caught it looks silly when not play on whatever cant get em all

[Cashcleaner]

I would imagine one of the big reasons why soccer hasn't caught on as much as we'd like in North America is because of the prevalence of diving in the sport. At least it's been mentioned to me more than a few times. It's good to see the league exposing these incidents and handing out the appropriate punishment. Hopefully it will lead to a drop in occurrences.

We all want to see more playing and less flopping around on the pitch.

[james]

Love it, I always said other leagues around the world in places like England, Italy, Germany, France, Brazil, Argentina....well every league around the world actually should really clamp down on diving. It really ruins soccer for many people, its disgusting how players blatantly dive over and over again and always get away with it. Some leagues are worse then others, Italy was always bad on my list and some countries in South America I think are really bad at it. But all leagues have some diving issues that to many people get away with.

I don't know the rules on fining divers but this is how id like to see it work:

1st offense you get a fine.
2nd offense bigger fine and miss next game
3rd offense even bigger fine, club is fined, and player misses next 3 games
and well hope there never is a 4th, but the fines get bigger and games missed add up.

[Klinsmann]

How about all the teams that TFC played before in CONCACAF games, the constant diving is hilarious. The refs falling for it is not...