Atlanta United’s Leandro Pirez sacrificed himself in Sunday’s 6-1 win against Minnesota United.
Facing a counter-attack in the first half, Pirez brought down the man dribbling down the field in the 34th minute, resulting in a yellow card. One more tough foul and Pirez would risk a second yellow card, which would result in an automatic red, his expulsion and his team left to finish the game with 10 men.
“I had to make a play,” he said Wednesday.
It was the second time in as many games that Pirez and the referee had a conversation. He received a warning in the first half of the inaugural game against the New York Red Bulls. He was able to avoid picking up a yellow card the remainder of the game.
Some of Atlanta United’s defenders said receiving a yellow card affects the way they approach playing defense.
“You have to think about tackles and timing,” fullback Tyrone Mears said. “You can’t change the way you play. Obviously if there’s a tackle where you might not get there, that’s when you have to think about it.”
Instead of giving an opponent more space to avoid an inadvertent foul, Pirez said he prefers to mark his assignment even tighter.
“You want to stay close, so they can’t get away from you,” he said.
Yellow cards or not, staying close will be especially important in Saturday’s game against Chicago, which features David Accam, arguably the fastest player in the league.
Atlanta United captain Michael Parkhurst, Pirez’s partner at centerhalf, said they can’t allow Accam the time or space to receive the ball, turn and run at the defense.
Don’t be surprised this weekend to see another professional foul similar to what Pirez did against Minnesota United, should Accam get up a head of steam and Atlanta United needs to slow him down.
While defenders have the professional foul, attackers have the professional fall, throwing themselves down at even the thought of contact. Pirez described it as a resource that some players use. He doesn’t blame them because often it works, such as in last week’s game between Portland and the L.A. Galaxy.
L.A. defender Jelle Van Damme was given a yellow card in the 31st minute and another in the 34th, resulting in an automatic red card, in the 1-0 loss.
On neither foul, the first by Van Damme against Diego Chara and the second against David Guzman, did it appear that the big centerhalf even touched either player. But in both instances the Portland players ended up on the ground rolling around.
The two teams engaged in a Twitter spat in the ensuing days, with L.A. making memes out of the dives and Portland making fun of the Galaxy’s attendance totals.
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