This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Owner Dave Checketts is not happy that veteran captain Kyle Beckerman must miss the biggest game in Real Salt Lake history, and he plans to push officials to change the rule that's making it happen.
"We're going to be very aggressive about it," Checketts said, "not just because it's our captain, but because clearly, it's just not a rule that ought to be in place."
One of the anchors of the team, Beckerman must sit out the decisive home leg of the CONCACAF Champions League finals against Monterrey at Rio Tinto Stadium on Wednesday night because of caution accumulation.
Rules dictate that players must be suspended one game if they pick up two yellow cards in the tournament's knockout rounds, and Beckerman picked up his second one in the first leg of the finals against Monterrey on the road last week.
But his first yellow came back in the first leg of the quarterfinals at Columbus on Feb. 22. He had played three tournament games without incident between the bookings, and Checketts believes the slate should be wiped clean at the start of each round.
"There's no reason that a guy like Kyle Beckerman — or even the two players that Monterrey is going to miss [for the same reason] — should have to miss the game," Checketts said. "People come to a final to see the best players play, and that's who ought to be on the field — unless there's something in the first leg that is so excessive that it's a straight red or something."
Checketts said he plans to lobby CONCACAF officials for a change while they're in town for the game this week — he said he has the support of Major League Soccer — as well as for a video-review process that would allow officials to increase penalties for "something that is worse than it appeared to the referee" and rescind them "when it's clear the referee missed the call or was not in the position to make the call."
Coach Jason Kreis called the card on Beckerman a "travesty," saying the challenge that earned it did not even warrant a foul.
"I'm going to make sure our voice is heard, because this is not right to our captain," Checketts said. "I feel bad for him. He has played his whole life in this sport for an occasion like this. … Whether or not that yellow was deserved by Kyle is less important than the fact that he got his first one against Columbus. That should have gone away as we advanced."