Espinoza, Busch, and Other News

Some news to catch up with today. 

photo courtesy of Jarred Donalson

Yesterday in Toronto, Roger Espinoza and Honduras took on Canada in a World Cup qualifier at BMO Field.  Canada was the stronger side throughout the match, but Honduras held on and picked up a 0-0 draw away from home.  Espinoza continued his good run of form in league as he played the full 90 minutes for Honduras.  He could have had an assist in the first half with a great cross into the box, but poor finishing by teammates kept the game scoreless.  Then late in the game, Espinoza had a chance from long range, but his shot was just over the bar.  Honduras is now 3rd place in the group currently, on 1 point.

Busch Suspended

The MLS Disciplinary Committee made an announcement today regarding the incident in KC's last league game against San Jose.  I've previously discussed the "confrontation" between Jon Busch and one of KC's ball boys.  Busch was given a 1 game suspension and an undisclosed fine, I've been told $500, for "aggressively retrieving a ball."  Gotta say I haven't seen that before, actually it gives me a bit of a chuckle.  Based off of the reason for the suspension I'd guess the video evidence that Sporting apparently provided to the league wasn't enough to show the actual striking that I was told by eye witnesses.  Or didn't show it to be much of a strike.  We'll probably never know.  Busch will miss San Jose's game this weekend vs Colorado.

Coaching Changes

KC was already set to take on one new coach this weekend when they take on Paul Mariner and Toronto FC in his first game in charge of the club.  Now KC will play 2 new coaches in the next 3 games.  Today, Philadelphia announced that Piotr Nowak had been removed as the head coach of the Philadelphia Union.  Nowak will be replaced by John Hackworth on an interim basis.  Philadelphia's first game will be this weekend against DC.  But KC will be Hackworth's second opponent a week from this Saturday in Philadelphia.

No Suspension, Yet, for Busch

Today, MLS' disciplinary committee made announcements regarding retroactive fines and suspensions for activities this past week.  Three players received suspensions, Mike Magee and Michael Stephens, both of LA, and Lionard Pajoy of Philadelphia for their actions last week.  One name that many Sporting KC fans expected to be on the list, but was not, was Jon Busch. 

For those that don't remember the long discussion that occurred on Sunday night, Monday, and much of Tuesday before the Open Cup game, Busch allegedly slapped one of the ball kids behind the goal, late in KC's 2-1 win over San Jose.  Multiple reports game in from people around the incident, basically describing similar situations but differing in some details.  What the story basically is, is that the ball kid was taking his time returning the ball to Busch as he was yelling for it to try to get the game restarted.  The question comes in the next part, some people have said that Busch grabbed the ball out of the kids and gave a quick slap.  A second story that has been around is that the kid dropped the ball at the same time that Busch went to grab it and slapped him as a result of the ball not being there.  A third version of the events is that the kid dropped the ball and as Busch picked it up he then slapped the kid.  After the game, the ball kid, or someone claiming to be the ball kid, called in to the post game show on Sports Radio 810.  He confirmed that he was trying to kill time to help KC late on.  He did confirm that Busch hit him in the arm. 

It's surprising still that Busch has not been given a suspension yet.  There is one thing that could be delaying the announcement though.  Since the action involved a someone that was not a player, it's possible that there may be some sort of police action that is being waited on before an announcement was made.  It's also just as possible that Busch doesn't get a suspension and the contact is seen as accidentally.  IF Busch does end up getting suspended there are two previous instances that can be looked at for examples.  The first was Colin Clarke earlier this year calling a ball kid in Seattle an F'ing Faggot.  Clarke received a 3 game fine for his actions.  The other occurred in Switzerland, where a player slapped a ball kid post game.  That player received an eight game suspension for his actions. I personally still expect some league action to be taken for Busch's actions on Sunday, but we'll have to see if that actually happens.

Hedrick Out with Surgery

Cyprian Hedrick will miss the next four months of action after he had surgery on his fractured fibula. The surgery took place today.  With the injury to Hedrick, the announcement the other day of the signing of Kyle Miller makes total sense.  I'd wondered at the time why KC had made the announcement when they did, but with Hedrick being out of the next 4 months, the signing of the local product makes more sense.