TORONTO – Jozy Altidore, who played the first half of the US national team's friendly against Costa Rica on Tuesday, began Toronto FC’s match on Wednesday on the bench as they looked to clinch a berth in the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time in club history.
But that doesn’t mean he didn’t play an active role in the proceedings.
In a rather bizarre moment during the first half of Toronto's 2-1 win over New York Red Bulls, Altidore was shown a red card — while he was still sitting on the bench.
Play was stopped shortly after the half-hour mark, prompted by an assistant referee, who alerted the fourth official of an issue. The fourth official brought it to the attention of the referee, Fotis Bazakos, who then showed Altidore a red card for "foul and abusive language."
“I'm not ecstatic [with Altidore earning a red card],” TFC head coach Greg Vanney said after the match. “It was a little bit soft, in the grand scheme of things. ... But, we don't really need to get ourselves even into that sort of situation.
"So, we'll have a discussion, we'll deal with it. We have to be a little bit wiser than that.”
This is the second red card Altidore has received this year. He was also handed his marching orders on August 1 after an altercation with Jose Goncalves of the New England Revolution.
On Wednesday, the officials responded to a pool reporter's questions, but did not shed any light on the circumstances of the dismissal.
“He was sent-off for foul and abusive language directed at Assistant Referee #1,” the officials responded, adding, “Further detail requests should be directed to the competition authority.”
Depending on the length of the accompanying suspension, Altidore will most likely be unavailable for at least Toronto's next game at home against Columbus Crew SC on Saturday (2 pm ET; TSN1 in Canada).
