Referee Guido Gonzales Jr. blew his whistle in the 56th minute after Matt Polster delayed the play of Jose Martinez. Gonzales proceeded to reach into his pocket to reveal Polster’s second yellow of the game. Just like that, the New England Revolution were down to ten men in a scoreless game against the Philadelphia Union.
Head coach Bruce Arena criticized the referee in his press conference, saying, “I think an experienced referee knows not to send a player off on a foul like that. If that’s the case, he probably would’ve sent off two players from Philadelphia with similar type of fouls playing with yellow cards.