Seattle Sounders forward Clint Dempsey was barred from the United States Open Cup for at least two years on Thursday, his second punishment in a week for tearing up a referee’s notebook during a match in the tournament on June 16.
Dempsey, the captain of the United States national team, did not make contact with the official during the incident last week in the Open Cup, a knockout competition that runs concurrent with the Major League Soccer season. But he knocked the referee’s notebook from his hand during an argument and then picked it up and tore it to pieces as he walked away, drawing an ejection.