USMNT Advance But Tottenham’s Yedlin Suspended
The U.S. Men’s National Team advanced into the quarter-finals in this year’s Copa América Centenario but will be without Tottenham Hotspur right-back, DeAndre Yedlin, due to his suspension.
In what was a very rare instance of DeAndre Yedlin losing his composure and being sent off, the Tottenham right-back left his feet twice within a span of a minute to produce two rough and dangerous tackles against Paraguayan players.
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Yedlin’s first challenge was considered a foul and an automatic yellow for tackling his man from behind. After all, he had to make a recovery run when he got beat.
That in of itself isn’t bad, you’ll always take that if it stops a quick counterattack at the expense of getting one of your players a yellow card.
What isn’t acceptable though, is quickly doing the same action a second time knowing full-well that you were previously booked seconds earlier.
It’s a learning process that DeAndre Yedlin will have to… well, learn from. At just 22-years-old he’s still young enough that mistakes like this will still happen. Now, with him being suspended, Yedlin can reflect on what he did wrong and hopefully be ready should America advance into the semi-finals.
Following the game, Yedlin wasn’t available for an interview but in his place were his former Seattle Sounders teammate, Clint Dempsey, and the USMNT coach, Jürgen Klinsmann, discussing the matter of DeAndre Yedlin’s challenges and why he potentially did what he did.
"“It was a difficult situation,” said Dempsey (via Seattle Sounders official site).“The first one I didn’t think was a foul. The second one was, but the first one I thought DeAndre got the ball. Any time you go a man down it’s always difficult but, man, I’m happy we responded.”"
It’s debatable on whether DeAndre Yedlin’s first foul was considered a foul or not and whether it warranted a yellow card. But strictly speaking, anytime a player makes a rough challenge from behind — like Yedlin made — that’s a foul and a yellow.
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Remember how it was mentioned that Yedlin being sent off was rare? This is how rare it has happened in the U.S. international’s career for club and country.
In 56 regular-season appearances for the Seattle Sounders in Major League Soccer, DeAndre Yedlin was sent off just once.
In 37 appearances with the USMNT, Saturday was the first time that he has been ejected.
And for good measure, when it comes to playing in the Premier League, the 22-year-old wasn’t sent off while on loan with Sunderland. Or with Tottenham for that matter.
So really, it’s just an aberration in Yedlin’s career that he received two yellow cards, thus being sent off and missing the U.S.’ quarter-finals match against either Brazil or Peru — whoever ends up being runners-up in Group B after America won Group A with Colombia losing 3-2 to Costa Rica.
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Finally, here’s what Jürgen Klinsmann had to say when he witnessed both tackles happening right in front of him by the touchline.
"“He makes the first tackle because he has to make that recovery run,” Klinsmann said.“I was not sure about the first one; I thought the first one he played the ball. Seeing it [later], it was a foul. You can give that yellow.”“Then he just lost his head for a second. This is why you are young.”“You’ve got to give him that benefit of the doubt. You’ve got to give him that credit. He will learn from that mistake. Just cool down for a couple minutes and find your path in the game again.”"