Shameful.
That's the word used by New York Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch to describe the New England Revolution's decision to play on despite defender Kemar Lawrence being injured on the ground. The choice, which occurred in the 55th minute of Friday's game, led to Diego Fagundez's goal, the only tally of the night.
During his press conference, Marsch made it clear that he didn't approve of the Revolution's actions. The former player would've liked to have seen his opponent play the ball out of bounds instead of moving it forward.
"The game's supposed to have honor," Marsch said. "They can claim they didn't see him. They can claim that they weren't sure if he was hurt, [but] it was clear as day that he was down on the ground. Not just one player saw him but the whole team saw him. That part for me is shameful."
The play in question starts on the Revolution's side of the field. As the ball makes its way to Juan Agudelo, Lawrence is seen on the turf. Agudelo continues to play and finds Fagundez, who slots it into an empty net. The strike secured full points for the home team.
Lawrence would be stretched off the field, making way for Chris Duvall. The extent of the injury is currently unknown and Marsch refused to speculate about whether the turf was to blame.
Although Agudelo would confess that he feels "partly bad about it", the exchange happened so quickly that he could only rely on his natural instinct to attack.
"I saw him go down but I was thinking he was going to get up because they kept on playing," the 23-year-old said. "Then it was just instinct once I got the ball. I just kept looking at the ball, looking down. I saw my players come in and I crossed it to Diego."
Revolution players weren't the only ones to draw attention from Marsch. The coach also took issue with referee Mark Geiger, who made several controversial calls in his mind.
"The referee has such a huge impact on this game by having a bad performance," Marsch said. "For me, he can blow the whistle when a guys down like that He can give a red card when [Bradley Wright-Phillips is] in on a breakaway and he gets pushed and shoved from behind and it prevents him from getting a clear shot. It could be a red card, penalty. How does that affect the game?"
Despite the final result of the game, Marsch was happy with the grit and fortitude exhibited by his players.
"Our team played great," Marsch praised. "Our team had fight. Our team stuck together, had confidence. Even a man down, [we] played quite well and were the better team."
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