Some teams would knee-jerk to the panic button if faced with the prospect of losing a player of the caliber of Ricardo Clark for the entire MLS playoffs.
Not the Houston Dynamo.
Clark was suspended Thursday night by MLS Commissioner Don Garber for nine league games in the wake of Clark's retaliation toward FC Dallas' Carlos Ruiz on Sunday, September 30. Clark was ejected in the 89th minute of the Dynamo 3-1 win, and will now miss the remainder of Houston's 2007 games in a suspension that will continue through the early 2008 MLS season.
Clark has played in 19 league contests this season, starting 18 of them. One of the best holding midfielders in the game has been instrumental in the Dynamo current run of 17 unbeaten games in the last 19 league matches.
Just as telling, perhaps, is the team's ability to prosper without Clark.
Clark has missed eight Dynamo MLS games due to injury or U.S. National Team callups, and the Dynamo has not lost any of those contests. After Clark scored in a June 3, 2-1 win against FC Dallas, Clark missed the next six league games and the Dynamo won five of them. Clark's performance against Dallas ignited the Dynamo to an 11-game unbeaten streak, even though Ricardo missed a bulk of those games. In total, of the eight league games without Clark, the Dynamo has won five and tied three. The Dynamo also went 2-1-1 without Ricardo in SuperLiga action.
Facing the last three games of the regular season and the 2007 playoffs without Clark, the Dynamo will most likely return Richard Mulrooney to Clark's midfield spot, perhaps returning Craig Waibel to right back.
"I have decided that it is necessary to take firm action to reflect the fact that Ricardo Clark's violent kick to Carlos Ruiz in last weekend's game against FC Dallas, while out of character, is unacceptable behavior from an MLS player," said MLS Commissioner Don Garber in a written statement.
Clark and the Major League Soccer Players Union is expected to appeal the suspension.
"The commissioner has made a difficult decision," said Dynamo President Oliver Luck. "As a franchise, we will abide by that decision."
