For Seattle Sounders defender Brad Evans, red cards aren’t exactly a regular occurrence. Against Portland on Sunday night, he earned only his 4th sending off in 226 appearances in Major League Soccer. Evans is known for being pretty passionate on the field for the Sounders, but his wealth of experience almost always helps him keep a cool head. Which is why he thinks the red card against Portland, similar to the one he earned at Vancouver last season, was just a misunderstanding.
According to Evans, players in MLS were told in preseason about the new rule instituted by PRO in 2017 regarding decisions of a penalty and sending off:
Law 12 – Denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity (DOGSO) in the penalty area
DOGSO offences in the penalty area where the defender is penalized for an offence which was an attempt to play the ball or challenge the opponent for the ball, the defender will be cautioned (yellow card), not sent off (red card).