The Seattle Sounders and Chad Marshall can breathe a bit easier now after learning Thursday that Major League Soccer and the Independent Panel had rescinded the defender's red card issued in last Saturday's 3-1 win over Sporting Kansas City.
Marshall, who amazingly has been ejected only one other time during his 15-year career, gave reason to why he hasn't seen red with more frequency.
“I don’t want to pay the fines," said a smiling Marshall. "I try and play good, honest defense. I know that giving up fouls creates set pieces and scoring chances for other teams, so I try and play the game the right way and understand you need to be physical and hard at times, but I don’t want to give up unnecessary chances for the other team.”
Marshall admitted to not knowing what referee Baldomero Toledo was reviewing during the waning moments of the Sounders' eighth-straight win last Saturday and had to be told what was going on by the nearby linesman.
"I was just standing there," Marshall recalled. "I didn’t know what he was looking at and then the lines guy came over and said, 'I think you’re getting a red,' so I was surprised. I didn’t think there was much in it. I certainly didn’t go into the challenge trying to hurt anyone, so I’m glad they looked at it and overturned it.”
Marshall helps spearhead the top-ranked defense in MLS, a unit that has conceded a league-low 27 goals in 26 games, and is now eligible to play for the Rave Green's upcoming Cascadia match at the Vancouver Whitecaps next Saturday, September 15 (7:00 p.m. PT / JOEtv, YouTube TV, 950 KJR AM, El Rey 1360 AM).
With a win in Canada next weekend the Sounders would claim the Cascadia Cup for the fifth time in the competition's existence and first time since 2015. Additionally, the Sounders only sit above the 'Caps by one point in the Western Conference with the Canadian side currently out of the Audi 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs picture.
The implications are massive.
“They’re right there in the table, right below us," Marshall said. "It’ll be a huge game, obviously a Cascadia rival. We’ve had success there in recent years so hopefully we can keep that going.”
