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An Oral History of the Red Card Wedding (revisited)
339 Plays1 day ago
It was almost exactly 10 years ago that the Portland Timbers visited Starfire Stadium for what would ultimately be known as the Red Card Wedding. With the Timbers returning to Starfire on Tuesday, now seems like a good time to re-release this episode that was first recorded in 2017.
Back then, Jeremiah teamed up with former SB Nation colleague Richard Farley and Soccer Made in PDX’s Chris Rifer to record and produce this episode. It features such notable voices as Brad Evans, Lamar Neagle, Andy Rose, Ross Fletcher, Caleb Porter, Jack Jewsbury and Nat Borchers as well as Jeff Hosking, who was an assistant ref in the game.
For the uninitiated, this was among the more surreal games in Sounders history. It most famous featured Clint Dempsey getting ejected and literally ripping up the referee’s notebook, but it also featured two other red cards (which combined with Obafemi Martins’ injury forced the Sounders to finish the game with seven players).
Even before that, the match was shaping up as a classic with two heated rivals trading blows in a match that went to overtime. You’ll definitely want to give it a listen.
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Transcript
Will Bruin's New Role
00:00:01
Speaker
Hi, I'm Will Bruin, and I was just recognized as a Seattle Sounders legend. Now I get to do voice reads for the Sounder at Heart podcast network. Here we go. Come on. Hey, O'Shaughnessy.
00:00:14
Speaker
Let's go. What save by Frye.
Seattle Sounders' MLS Cup Victory
00:00:18
Speaker
The Seattle Sounders have done it. MLS Cup winning. Here comes Ruiz Dias through the middle to crowd it for Seattle.
00:00:29
Speaker
And now they truly can start the celebrations. It's the Sounders MLS Cup. Nico leaves absolutely no doubt. The Sounders rule the region.
00:00:43
Speaker
Seattle, Sounders, it's got built.
00:00:52
Speaker
This feels fucking awesome. This is a tiny dog. Nice work on your little yacht thing. And Portland can't say shit. know, what was the thought process i did in terms of who you decided to use and who you didn't?
00:01:06
Speaker
Ever since Southert Hart wrote a commentary that we didn't take over coming seriously. Go, not Seattle!
Nos Arietes Podcast Sponsorship
00:01:18
Speaker
This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounder supporters.
00:01:32
Speaker
They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, Pacific Northwest.
00:01:48
Speaker
i think bizazarre is probably a ah pretty good word for it.
00:01:53
Speaker
As the game went on, you know, this this was going to be an epic game because you could just see it. I mean, to be quite honest, was almost, at that point, it was almost comical.
00:02:05
Speaker
Almost as if we were playing without a ref, but then again, we also had this guy in the center that really didn't know what he was doing.
00:02:18
Speaker
In sports, the word impossible is almost always an exaggeration. After all, if we saw it, it happened. That shot, that catch, that throw we thought we'd never see, turns out, impossible could be done.
00:02:36
Speaker
But every once in a while, even within those bounds, something so absurd happens that only fiction can provide context. Only fantasy, our imagination, can relate to something so unforeseeable, our view of sports just can't hold it.
The Red Card Wedding Context
00:02:55
Speaker
So it was on June 16, 2015, that a legend was created. One that defied the history of Major League Soccer's most prominent rivalry. It's one that defined an MLS Cup contender season and one that will forever be linked with one of the best players that U.S. soccer has ever produced.
00:03:14
Speaker
Sound hyperbolic? Perhaps it is, but nobody who actually saw the red card wedding unfold would say otherwise. What should have been an innocuous US Open Cup match now lives on as a signature game in the decades-old rivalry between the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers.
00:03:34
Speaker
And, as you'll hear, the memory of that night still, years later, lives fresh in the minds of those who were on the field.
00:03:47
Speaker
For Nos Audietes, I'm Richard Farley, working in conjunction with Jeremiah Oshan and Chris Reifer. This is Remembering the Red Card Wedding, featuring... My name is Nat Orchards, and I was playing center back for Portland.
00:04:02
Speaker
Hi, this is Brad Evans, and I was a center back during the Red Card Wedding. Jeff Hosking, I was the assistant referee on the stands aside, so heard you.
00:04:13
Speaker
This is Jack Jewsbury of the Portland Timbers, captain and defensive midfielder. Caleb Porter, head coach, Portland Timbers. Hey, I'm Andy Rose. I played for the Seattle Sounders against Portland Timbers in the U.S. Open Cup.
00:04:26
Speaker
He ganged up the red card wedding. We're also joined by the former voice of the Seattle Sounders, Ross Fletcher, and Seattle Sounders midfielder, Lamar Nagel.
00:04:45
Speaker
To describe the red card wedding by its score alone doesn't do the night justice, because 3-1 just isn't that uncommon of a scoreline. To say the game went into extra time of a knockout competition and was waged between rivals helps a little, as does reminding everyone that one of these teams finished the night with only seven men.
Starfire Stadium's Reputation
00:05:06
Speaker
But the absurdities of the night two years ago... this is night that so Sounders fans been looking forward to. owned since coming into Major League Soccer.
00:05:18
Speaker
you'd ever hear of from a soccer field and ross fletcher was there to call it all so this is a night that so many sounders fans have been looking forward to u open cup a tournament they had owned since coming into major league soccer At Starfire, a place that was an absolute fortress, Seattle unbeaten in all their Open Cup games there against their hated rivals, the Portland Timbers.
00:05:42
Speaker
Dimly lit field, poor surface, 4,000 baying fans screaming and throat rasping from only feet away from the players. They can feel them, smell them, almost touch them.
00:05:56
Speaker
It has a little bit of a feel of Mad Max beyond the Thunderdome. Brad Evans. You know, obviously it's going to be a testy match. It's it's Portland, Seattle. it's ah It's a small postage stamp of a field. It's a terrible turf field, which both teams are accustomed to playing on turf. So in saying that, it was still really bad. And and that field plays very poorly.
00:06:16
Speaker
Nat Borchers. It hurts my knees and my Achilles tendons in particular just to think about playing on that pitch because it is like they put a bunch of plywood down and they threw over some green confetti and they just called it a field. Caleb Porter.
00:06:31
Speaker
little would we that setting will be overshadowed by the events. and it was like that a more literally i was getting ferbently abused or and little would we know that the setting would be overshadowed by the events And it all started in innocuous but maybe bizarre fashion, setting the tone the two kits the teams would wear.
Kit Confusion Chaos
00:06:57
Speaker
Portland Timbers come out in their home kit of green and the Sounders in black. Now, this is a Seattle home game. Surely the Sounders are in rave green. But no, often sponsorship obligations overtake tradition.
00:07:11
Speaker
But when you start watching the game, it's very clear that the referee, Daniel Radford, who will be a hugely controversial figure in this most remarkable of evenings, would let it play on with two teams in a dark place in dark kit going at it.
00:07:29
Speaker
Jack Jewsberry. I believe Brad Evans would have been their captain yeah at the time. And him and I actually had a discussion because of the lighting and the sun. I believe it was a sunny day.
00:07:42
Speaker
And it was very difficult to tell. And we kind of knew before the kickoff that it might become a problem. And so I think the refs kind of kept their eye on in the first half. But there was a point where him and I had...
00:07:52
Speaker
a conversation, not a heated conversation, just ah a real conversation that, hey, you know, we're struggling to to tell the difference between the two teams because it was more of the the shorts and the socks, if I remember right, than necessary at the top. So it's almost like you had to look at the shorts to make sure you were passing it to your right team.
00:08:07
Speaker
a r two jeff hosky in a typical and mlla match we are given the team colors well in advance and so if there's any type of a conflict like that we can solve it is in advance usually usually to like a week open cup you pretty much should show up and you know that there's not this the league structure around those games for the game we inspect both teams uniforms it's practice and we held them right next to each other
00:08:38
Speaker
and ah problem was that both teams said these were the only jerseys that they brought forler said they only had their warmup shirts and so i believe they changed colors at half time if memory serves correct Seattle did end up changing into their white kits at halftime, but even now, it's still unclear how the two teams showed up intent on wearing such similar colors.
00:09:01
Speaker
My kit man told me they refused to change. That's why. Because we we we were told we were going to wear, what was it? The green. The green.
00:09:12
Speaker
And but they wanted to wear the black. Right. And we only brought green. And then last minute they said, well, they're not going to change. We have to change. So we don't have uniforms.
00:09:24
Speaker
And so they said, well, we're going to play in the black anyways. And I think they realized that it was really tough to see. So they they changed it halftime. I think it was right.
00:09:35
Speaker
Andy Rose, talking to us from England. I loved those jerseys. So I was a little bit annoyed for sure. It was just one of those things where as a player, you know, I had never experienced it before. I suppose was one of those things that you just kind of, you know, you just kind of get on with it, shake it off, not letting it affect you.
00:09:56
Speaker
The kits ultimately didn't have an impact on the game, but in hindsight, it was a strange harbinger, a sign that even in a contentious rivalry, this match would be a little bit different.
00:10:09
Speaker
Another bad omen, some players on the field noticed that the man in charge with presiding over affairs seemed to be micromanaging things early on.
Referee's Controversial Decisions
00:10:18
Speaker
So this referee was very inexperienced coming in.
00:10:21
Speaker
Daniel Radford, lower-level referee, but getting his chance effectively in the U.S. Open Cup. And this is what U.S. soccer like to do, and you can understand it, to give lower-level referees a chance to prove themselves. They move them up in a competition.
00:10:34
Speaker
U.S. Open Cup, not as prestigious as Major League Soccer or the CONCACAF Champions League or international soccer. So this is their moment to show if they can do it. The sad thing was, Daniel Radford, unlike Daniel Radcliffe, had no magic spells.
00:10:49
Speaker
He couldn't pull a trick out, and he would, for some reason, focus on little issues that didn't seem to make sense. Coming in, he knew it was going to be a broiling atmosphere between two really, really strong rivals.
00:11:04
Speaker
And instead of making sure that the discipline was right, I remember during the first half thinking, why is this referee focusing on throw-ins? For all of the things he could have been policing properly, he was seemingly obsessed with getting throw-ins taken from the right or wrong place, and whether someone's foot was marginally over the line. Of all things to pick up on in a local derby, it was that.
00:11:28
Speaker
And that's when I first thought, something not quite right about the ability of this referee. I remember now the foul throw calls against us, however many. um I remember some really soft yellow card fouls.
00:11:45
Speaker
I remember the referee having no control over the game whatsoever. um It was almost as if we were just, almost as if we were playing without a ref. Lamar Nagel. There would be balls thrown in and the advantage would be lost just because he brought it back. I remember being pissed about that.
00:12:01
Speaker
For Seattle, it got worse after halftime, albeit in a very different way. Early in the second period, after Diego Valeri struck to put the Timbers up 1-0, Daniel Radford made his first major impact of the match, taking note of Brad Evans, who was already carrying a yellow card. I remember i was playing right back and Villafana comes forward and I don't know if I had poked the ball away, but somehow he ended up on the ground on top of the ball. From my viewpoint, either when a player falls on top of the ball, the referee should blow a whistle because more more than likely he's probably handballed it or there's going to be a dangerous play. As soon as a player falls on the ball and he doesn't get up right away.
00:12:42
Speaker
There's going to be a dangerous play and somebody's going to get hurt or something stupid is going to happen. So I didn't hear a whistle. I see light of day, which is the ball. So I give it a poke. And sure enough, maybe two or three pokes. I'm not sure.
00:12:53
Speaker
He throws his hands up. Referee, second yellow. And I'm
Portland Challenges Seattle's Dominance
00:12:58
Speaker
sent off. Now, Porchers. You get sent off and you're thinking... you know, wow, okay, know now we really have an opportunity here. whichs you know It's tied up, it's one one and and we've you know got the man advantage. Now we've got to do something about that.
00:13:16
Speaker
do something about that actually understates what's going on here. Starfire wasn't just a fortress because of its close confines and terrible turf. The Sounders hadn't lost there.
00:13:27
Speaker
Four victorious Open Cup runs were built in Tukwila, and the time Seattle had lost in the competition, they did so on the road. It was something Portland was well aware of coming into that game.
00:13:38
Speaker
Thinking before this game that that it would be an incredible opportunity to kind of jumpstart our season. because at the time were kind of struggling. um We knew they had never lost you know in the Open Cup on that field.
00:13:55
Speaker
And like i said, we were kind of struggling. And I thought, you know what? Great opportunity if we can win this game you know to lift our season and maybe derail theirs a little bit. Even before that season, Caleb had always talked to us about doing something that we had never done for this organization.
00:14:11
Speaker
Whatever that was, whether that was winning the Supporter Shields, winning an MLS Cup, at that time it would have been going into Seattle and beating them at Starfire because no one, if I remember right, had done that in the past 10 years.
00:14:22
Speaker
So we wanted that, the group that was on the field that day, wanted to do something that ah the Portland Timbers had never done um in the Open Cup at Starfire. So within that context and with Brad Evans shown his second yellow card, that's when the emotions of the night started to peak. Yeah, the bench is going crazy because it's on the side of Portland's bench right in front of Portland's bench. So they go crazy and their whole fans are sitting right behind there also. So they go crazy. And obviously this ref is in influenced by factors in the game and he let that one get over him. And as soon as I got my first yellow, I think it was soft. It may have been soft. I don't remember what it was, but. The second yellow, knowing how soft it was in getting the red card, ultimately if I get into his face and scream and yell, it's going to accomplish the same exact thing as if i just walk off and almost in a walk of not defiance, but throwing the hand in the air saying this is an absolute joke, and which it was. It was a joke call.
00:15:12
Speaker
But that, I guess, spiraled into you know the death of our Open Cup run, obviously, and in that undefeated run at Starfire 2. Andy Rose. I don't think at that point you felt like the game was lost. It was just kind of like a ah little bit of a punch in the gut where you're like, okay, because this is going to be that much harder.
00:15:33
Speaker
And it's frustrating, especially losing yeah losing a guy like Brad, who, of course, you know and is a leader. And in tough moments, sometimes teams can rely on their veteran guys.
00:15:46
Speaker
So Portland start to take charge of the game. They score and Seattle think we've got to do something about it. This is a tournament in which we prided ourselves on winning it so many times, but they didn't want to use the stars. Clint Dempsey, Oberfemi Martins, it's a busy rut. Seattle have started the season terrifically well.
00:16:04
Speaker
They don't want to derail um MLS. But at the same time, they don't want to lose at home to their biggest rivals in the Open Cup, a tournament they treasure. So on come Dempsey and Martins.
00:16:15
Speaker
Martins gets the equaliser, takes it to extra time. And you think this is going to go well. Even with 10 men, they've got a fighting chance here. Playing with Oba was just such an incredible experience. And and any time you have players of that caliber on the pitch, you feel like you have a chance. It doesn't matter if you're down a man or maybe the referee is going against you at certain moments. Little things aren't going your way. You always just feel like you have a chance and and countless times.
00:16:42
Speaker
you know Throughout my my years playing with Oba, it's just you get a you know a good feeling. like right All we need to do is it try and get him the ball in a couple of dangerous places and um there's every chance he's gonna be able to finish it for us so massive relief like i said some of those nights i look back on it as some of my favorite nights as a player um at starfire with that crowd and without a doubt that that moment when suddenly you're back in this game was was one that that you know i'll always remember
00:17:14
Speaker
Yeah, I remember being frustrated, like thinking, you know, we're up a man and then we give up something on a set piece. And it's like, know, really, are we going to, you know, are we really going to let them take this from us when we have this advantage? And I think it, you know, I think it spurred us on. You know, I remember, you know, one player in particular, you know, Rodney Wallace, he's the guy who, you know, was one of our leaders on that team in terms of,
00:17:38
Speaker
Being able to flip that switch, being able to have that drive, that that competitive edge to say, okay, it's not good enough. Let's do something about it.
00:17:50
Speaker
But then, again, tragedy this time strikes with Martins going down injured. Takes a cleat from a fallen Darlington Nagby. Freak accident. Martins gets carted off on a stretcher.
Seattle's Strategy Under Pressure
00:18:03
Speaker
And you think at that point, wow, it looks serious. And I remember thinking to myself, this could be a really bad injury. and I remember him going down in the middle of the field and then thinking that that was really bad. i mean, the injury was ah pretty bad. And then just ah kind of more worried about him than...
00:18:20
Speaker
about the game obviously at the time. It just that i'm not even watching the game and that was tough you know he's like crying on the table because of what happened he knows the severity of the injury it didn't just hurt us that night it completely transformed our season and mx is one of those leagues right you have It's not easy to build a ah really sustainable team over the course of season. You always have, you know, three DPs and a couple extra players who are who are special, who are a little bit different. And for us, there's no doubt about that. Ova was our guy.
00:18:58
Speaker
By the time Obafemi Martins was carded off, it was the 86th minute. But Seattle had already used all their substitutions, which meant tied 1-1, going into 30 minutes of extra time, Seattle was going to have to play two men down. You know, so I never relaxed until the game's done, you know, because I've seen everything. and So, yeah, in that moment, I was...
00:19:20
Speaker
Still nervous, you know, even though we're up two men and, you know, it still takes a good play to score, you know, the goal to put it, put away. And at that point in time, I think that what I said the team was they're going to play for PKs and we need to stay on the front foot. we need to keep pushing and, you know, not let them get out of the game. You know, i think I remember saying, you know, we can't let this team get out of this game.
00:19:43
Speaker
You know, we need to, you know, go for the jugular, you know, get the goal, put them, put them away. You know, I think we pushed a little bit more because up until, if I remember correctly, up until that period, they had a few, few chances that I thought it almost, they almost scored. Maybe it was one chance when thought maybe it was my,
00:20:05
Speaker
you know, crazy worry was no it wasn't there. But I remember one moment where I thought they're going to score on us up when we're up two men. You know what i mean? So I think after that, we were clearly in control after that sure period. Because it was like, hey, you know, we're two men. You know, if we give something up here, you know, how is that going to make us look?
00:20:24
Speaker
You know, we're obviously um in a situation where we should win, you know, and we have all the cards are stacked for us. We should make this happen. So I think the pressure was like, just that much more pronounced because of that. I remember just giving absolutely everything I had and just saying to myself, look, I know the other guys on the pitch were saying the same things to themselves.
00:20:48
Speaker
Look, we've had some some really special nights at this place and and and and this could be another one of those. my i don't know if i've ever ranch so hard the game before I mean at 1-1 yeah you're thinking okay if we can defend for our lives you never know we we might just catch them on the break um it's going to take a goliath effort i mean we're going to have to be absolutely huge here without a doubt it was there was no point where it were you know I or any of the other guys on the pitch stopped the We could turn it around and win that game. Despite that optimism, Seattle gave up a goal within the first period of extra time.
00:21:26
Speaker
Going down in the 100th minute when, after a rebound, Rodney Wallace put Portland in front 2-1. I'm sure there was a sense of relief that we were able to get it. A lot of times, even if you know if a if a team loses a man, they you know one of their forwards comes off and they sit in a little deeper. So it's not much um it's not much different in terms of breaking a team down. Now, obviously, two is ah a bit different, but it's still when it's...
00:21:54
Speaker
you know For them, it was probably a focus on that first 15 minutes and getting through it. so To be able to kind of to break through in that first period, I think, was huge for us. and It was definitely a sense of relief, but we knew that there was still some business to take of. I remember even thinking to one up. I was still you know nervous.
00:22:11
Speaker
You just never know. As crazy that game was, it's ah you thought, in some ways, there's more pressure. I remember feeling as though we can still do this. Let's still do this. yeah and I think we might have even had a couple of sort half challenges, a couple of decent looks.
00:22:29
Speaker
Yeah, I remember us not obviously having a lot of possession, but us getting down in their half a couple times in some dangerous areas. So I do remember thinking that we could possibly still tie this up and then bring it to PKs, which would have been, mean, perfect for us.
00:22:48
Speaker
So it's about the 110th minute that you start to see an incident that will go viral, will go worldwide.
Clint Dempsey's Explosive Reaction
00:22:56
Speaker
Portland have scored their 2-1 up, but Seattle are about to totally lose it.
00:23:01
Speaker
And when I say Seattle, I mean Clint Dempsey. Michael Azera, who's a very gentle guy, good competitor on the field, but doesn't mean harm to anyone, goes in for a challenge with Gaston Fernandes, leaves his arm awkwardly in the air, but definitely for me, no elbow.
00:23:18
Speaker
Fernandes sells it as such. Daniel Radford makes the decision to send him off. Out goes Azera. Seattle down to eight men. But that's not the end of it.
00:23:30
Speaker
And at the time, I didn't realize exactly what Clint Dempsey was about to do or did do. But Dempsey goes over to the referee, complains vociferously, gets a yellow card, and then, unprecedented this, and I've never seen anything like it in my 17-odd years of calling soccer games, takes the notebook out of the referee's top pocket and casually rips it up and flings it on the floor.
00:23:57
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I just remember thinking thinking like there's there's no way. I mean, anybody who knows who knows Michael Azera, a red card is like the furthest thing from from what you think. You know what I mean? He's not that type of player. And I just knew right away it wasn't a red card. And so when I saw the referee pull that out, it was it was shocking. And And looking back, it's like a moment that that you'd say would be kind of laughable, but you're so invested in the moment and so invested in the game. And at that point, you still got it. Look, we still had players, playmakers on that pitch. You can get us a goal out of nothing. We still had Clint on the pitch, you know. and Without a doubt, we we were still believing, like, all right, we're we're going to get back into this thing.
00:24:40
Speaker
And so when that happened, it was, from a referee standpoint, the way the game had gone, it was just like, why why is that necessary? right now Again, Jeff Hosking, the assistant referee. So Michael Azera challenged for the Portland player for the ball.
00:24:59
Speaker
The referee thought that it was straight-legged and and into the shin of the Portland player. So he showed a red card. Like I said, there was already a lot of frustration from having to chase the game.
00:25:12
Speaker
You know, it had been a long night, and now they're down to nine players already. And now with a red card, now they're down to that's when a lot of tempers swear but there was an actual resignation of all right this is not going for us tonight and not only that obviously seattle didn't agree with the red card so that's when when dempsey made his opinions known if you will i coming up behind the referee and slapping the no got
00:25:43
Speaker
When have you ever seen a player react like that? Dempsey has totally lost it. Seattle have totally lost it. Dempsey then is carried off by his teammates, spitting and snarling and wanting to go back at the referee and really have it out with him.
00:26:00
Speaker
And that's the point you fear for more than just the game being lost to Daniel Radford's control. Could there have been crowd trouble? Could there have been bigger fights going on around I remember, I think it was Nat and I were kind of standing behind the play. and we i think we just looked at each other and just kind of giggled at what we were seeing right now. But I remember also that it boiled over a little bit at that point. And there were a couple of us that were even separating some of the Seattle guys from the referee because it just didn't look pretty.
00:26:30
Speaker
Obviously, there were a lot of emotions going on and frustration from their side. So we were actually trying to, I think, help them out a little bit just because it looked like they were trying to to go at him with the the stuff that happened with Clinton and the referee.
00:26:45
Speaker
And kind of hats off to to both Jack Jewsbury and to Nat Borgers. You know, when when Clint was ripping up the note card and really getting in the face of the referee, they they stepped in, even though that wasn't their teammate, just to kind of help calm the situation a little bit.
00:27:03
Speaker
And so hats off to them, I guess, for that Man, it was a bizarre one. You know, i I remember trying to, you know, shield the referee from him and then thinking, well, why am I doing that? Because he's obviously going to dig his own grave here. So I just kind of let him do it whatever he's going to do.
00:27:22
Speaker
And then saw him grab the referee's card and just start tearing it up. And I i just really couldn't believe my eyes. I just never – it's something that you want to do as like – I think every single like soccer player wants to do that in their wildest dreams when it's just like they're fed up with officiating.
00:27:38
Speaker
They want to do something about it. and But he did it. He actually went there and and did that. And i just remember being so shocked. My jaw just hit hit the ground and – I was just like, he really, he went there. he he really must have been pissed off about that call. I mean, the game's already over. Like, what's going on? we Yeah, we were all around the ref, kind of. I was a little bit, I wasn't really arguing. I don't think I was really arguing with the ref.
00:28:01
Speaker
But seen seeing the ref writing something down and then Clint, you know, obviously in his ear and then taking it and throwing it, and I thought, Like, that's another red card, for sure.
00:28:13
Speaker
And then starts to walk away, and he pulled out a yellow. and I was kind of relieved. I was like, oh man, like... We got away with that one. And then Clint, like, wrapped around, started walking back towards him. And I was like, oh, no, he's going back.
00:28:30
Speaker
Saw him rip it up and then throw it. said, all right, that's... I mean, that's got to be at least another yellow, right? If you really dislike the referee's collar, that is, like, the ultimate diss.
00:28:40
Speaker
Of course, I don't condone that, but... is something that you think about, of course, as a player. And he goes up and he does that. And then I'm like, wow, he's actually doing it I cannot believe he's ripping up that note card. That is just incredible.
00:28:55
Speaker
And now I'm just wondering what going to happen next.
00:28:59
Speaker
um But to see Dempsey do what he did horrifying. In football terms, he should never have done it. He apologised days later.
00:29:10
Speaker
wasn't the most fulsome of apologies, which maybe suggests something of Dempsey's attitude. But it was just a remarkable sequence of events that would, in the near decade of the Sounders in MLS existence, mark out, I think, their darkest day.
00:29:31
Speaker
Yeah, I don't even know where he thought to to grab the book and actually riff it up. And who knows, maybe, you know, maybe in his mind the game was already over. We're down, we're down three now. What's it matter if I do something silly? and obviously does something that he probably wishes he hadn't looking back on it.
00:29:50
Speaker
But it is something definitely i you know I've never seen and I assume it's just out of complete frustration. Just to top things off, when you think the night couldn't get any more bizarre, you realise at the end of it, Ziggy Schmidt, the Sounders coach, didn't coach the rest of the game from that Dempsey moment.
Ziggy Schmidt's Tactical Response
00:30:09
Speaker
But he was so riled up at what he'd seen, that he took himself away from the coaching position. I think he went and stood in the bottom corner of Starfire Stadium and watched there because otherwise, as he was then quoted in the post-match media scrum, he would have, quote, choked out the referee.
00:30:30
Speaker
And I remember Siggy s Smith storming out of the game. that No one even noticed that. yeah and He left the game early. he walked right by our bench and you know started you know yelling at us. so And then, you know, after the field, it got pretty tense, too, you know, on the pitch between the coaches and and players. Obviously, everybody's going to remember Clint Dempsey.
00:30:52
Speaker
You know, a lot was meant ah lot was made of that as, you know, the the them being down men. But really, the game was over when they lost Dempsey. That's why he lost it.
00:31:03
Speaker
And that just sums up an evening that the Sounders completely lost control. From all levels, it went wrong. And Ziggy naturally regrets those comments.
00:31:14
Speaker
I don't think he regrets saying what he said about the quality of the referee. We could all agree Daniel Radford had a terrifically bad game. that day. But to hear a coach who's looked up to and is so well-respected in the game say those things, no wonder US soccer came in with sanctions.
00:31:32
Speaker
But you add all those issues up in totality and it was just a terrible night for Seattle. and We're up four guys on the field and there's nobody pressuring you when you have the ball.
00:31:45
Speaker
You know, we still had a few minutes that we needed to make sure that we took care of business. So until we got that third goal, we definitely felt safe at tu one But, you know, once we got the third, that that definitely closed it up. But there were some, again, I think the tackles were still flying. The frustration was definitely there. I think for us, it was more just about move the ball. Don't let them even get close to you at this point.
00:32:07
Speaker
ah The game's over and and we're moving on and they're not. It was weird. I remember standing there with Adam Cuarce and we were just counting the number of men on the field because we just kind of lost track. You just kind lose track in the game of how many guys have been sent off.
00:32:21
Speaker
Didn't really comprehend. And think until that moment that and Oba had gone down, they didn't obviously have another sub and then just thinking, oh my God, there's been three guys sent off and one guy injured and they're down to seven men. And the hardest part about that was like seeing the game out,
00:32:39
Speaker
Knowing that and thinking on the back, what if we gave up a goal to seven men? you know And I remember just like being so tentative with my passing. And there was tons of space.
00:32:49
Speaker
But I do remember one player, Justin Rose from their team, was everywhere. He was running his ass off. And it was it was pretty cool to see that he still had some some life and he was still had some energy because he actually made it kind of hard for us you know even though we were playing up four guys.
00:33:05
Speaker
ah It became comical. And at the time, you know, what were the seven of us left on the pitch? Um, you know, we weren't, we weren't finding it funny. We were, you know, we were just gonna run our socks off and, uh, and tackle hard and play with pride and just keep on going because at the end of the day, that's what the the fans deserve. And, uh,
00:33:27
Speaker
There was no way i think a lot of guys would return the talent. And it's honestly a really proud moment for me looking back. that you know You're playing with seven guys against 11, and we all just kept fighting.
00:33:45
Speaker
you know We all just kept fighting. We knew everything at that point was stacked against us, but we still had time to play. and um you know With the way the the game had turned out, it was just like one of those things that you never know what could happen. let's just Let's just keep going.
00:34:00
Speaker
I knew we were at our limit, and obviously I'd never played at that before. that wasn' a really i wasn't really thinking of that. i don't think I had any cards. or you know That wasn't really on my mind. It was more of, you know fill in spaces where guys weren't defensively and then uh you know looking for advantages if we could break if somebody was up or the right time to break or not to try to get up the field but you know at that point there's little time there's little man it's It's a difficult situation for everybody.
00:34:30
Speaker
I just was trying to think about how I wanted to walk off that field and if I wanted to like diss the Seattle Sounders fans or do something like that because I was just so kind of fired up by the whole you know situation of like,
00:34:43
Speaker
the way that the Sounders fans and their players had handled things, know, I thought it was really you know, disappointing that they would kind of stoop to that level with what Clint did. And, you know, I just didn't think they had handled things with you know a whole lot of positive energy at all. It was really kind of strange. And and you can just feel the air just take it out of that stadium. And it was only the Timbers fans who were there chanting and and excited about what we had just done.
00:35:13
Speaker
are some things being thrown from the stands, which you don't like to see, but you know it is what it is. Yeah, at that point, yeah know you're just kind of waiting for the match to end and deal with all the rest of it after the game.
00:35:25
Speaker
I remember getting hit in the back with a water bottle. I remember things getting just pelted on the field. and um And we were just there a couple weeks ago, it obviously wasn't as bad, but I'll be honest with you, it's it's the one game where you're I mean, they're like touching distance to you.
00:35:44
Speaker
There was a whole hot dog that was thrown down at my feet, which I was kind of baffled that somebody would buy a hot dog, hold on to it for 120 minutes, and then choose to throw it.
00:35:55
Speaker
But, you know, to each his own. No, I've never felt that way. and I don't think in any but any competition in this country where I've at all felt threatened or you know felt like fans were being overly abusive. Yeah.
00:36:09
Speaker
the fans were fired up, you know, and and they obviously, you know, had a right to be, know, in some respects, in other respects they didn't. I think they were probably just as hurt, you know, to lose and the way they lost, you know, was pretty brutal as well. So i think they were all pretty fired up to to have that happen to them.
00:36:26
Speaker
At that point, you know, most of the fans were kind of hanging around where the, at the bottom of the stands, where you kind of have to walk through them. There was a few that had some kind words for us off the you know west we were making our way through that that pathway at that point we were just kind of talking with players really from both sides And everyone was kind of in disbelief a little bit as far as nobody had ever seen events culminate like that before.
Impact on Seattle's Season
00:37:03
Speaker
That night in May will be forever remembered for the Sounders for derailing their season and for worldwide media for providing them with a spicy bit of video and copy because Clint Dempsey's actions went worldwide.
00:37:19
Speaker
I remember the day after, tons of my friends and fellow broadcasters from England were saying, was that you last night commentating on Dempsey? What the heck happened? This had a huge viral impact.
00:37:31
Speaker
That match was assessed by somebody from U.S. Soccer. We completed all the paperwork in the locker room. We got showered up. We went the hotel that the out-of-town officials were staying at for the assessment debrief.
00:37:48
Speaker
I didn't even leave for my house until almost 1 in the morning because all of those things took as long as they did. You know, when you have an hour's worth of paperwork that needs to done,
00:38:00
Speaker
the assessment be briefef took a long time you dissecting different events in the match and just kind of describing and and learning from different reactions to to different scenarios and was followup ah know all of the officials we had to ah talk directly with u soccer when they were deciding what the punishment would be for Clint Dempsey.
00:38:23
Speaker
Really, they just want to make sure that all of the events that took place, events that were described in the reports, were accurate, and so they have a ah full picture of but all went on Clint Dempsey would end up being handed a ban by US soccer that has kept him out of US Open Cup competition to this day.
00:38:41
Speaker
For the Sounders, the effects of the red card wedding were even worse. Obafemi Martin's injury not only sidelined him for a significant time, but in conjunction with Dempsey's three match MLS ban and time with the US s men's national team, it helped derail the Sounders season.
00:38:58
Speaker
The team would fall from its place amongst MLS's leaders into a place that would send the club spending in the summer transfer window. Though the team recovered to make the playoffs, it bowed out early, and some suspect the lingering effects of 2015's swoon helped pave the way for Siggy Schmidt's 2016 departure.
00:39:19
Speaker
Yeah, it screwed us. yeah You always look back on a season and say these were pivotal points. I even look back on last season and say the home opener, we lose 1-0. That was a pivotal point in a pivotal game.
00:39:30
Speaker
And to lose 1-0, it kind of sent us on ah on a crap run, to be honest. Maybe... If you look in years past the games that we won the first game of the season at home, we've gone on a run and we've put ourselves in a good position. So I think there's always going to be games where, you know, you look back and that that was a pivotal part of a season where if who knows, it's it's hindsight. You know, if we feel the second rate lineup and we lose two to one, but we have our guys healthy and and we win the supporter shield. It's like, man, great coaching, great. to You know, this, that and the other. But if we start the lineup we did and we win 4-0 with even subbing those guys on, it's like, wow, great coaching. and we go on a run. So it's it was like a comedy of errors. And it's difficult to say whether that was the end for Ziggy Schmidt in overall times. There have been a couple of moments in years previous.
00:40:19
Speaker
where he was significantly on the hot seat as regards his future as a Sounders coach. He'd managed to ride those storms out. He'd always been allowed to go and invest in new players.
00:40:30
Speaker
And the front office had shown tremendous faith in him. So I'm not sure you can say that was a definitive moment, but I think it was a turning point for Ziggy. The season never recovered from there.
00:40:42
Speaker
And in the end, Seattle looked as far away as they ever were from winning MLS Cup. Maybe that was ah a foreshadowing of what happened the following summer when Seattle just had to act.
00:40:53
Speaker
So I don't know, because he had another year in the job, some might say he could have gone sooner. Some might say he should never have gone as as the franchise coach. But I don't think that night did him or Seattle too many favors in what has been ah fabulous near decade of existence as an MLS franchise.
Red Card Wedding's Legacy
00:41:14
Speaker
That near decade would culminate 17 months later when the Sounders lifted their first MLS Cup in Toronto, a turn that allows the red card wedding to be cast in an entirely different light.
00:41:25
Speaker
Had the Sounders parted ways with Schmidt, continued to struggle, and not have the glory of 2016 to fall back on, the red card wedding may be a defining moment in the franchise's modern history.
00:41:37
Speaker
Instead, one of the most absurd nights in North American soccer history can be looked upon as unreal, cast as fantasy, and given a title more befitting a work of fiction.
00:42:01
Speaker
Interviews for this program were conducted by Jeremiah O'Shan and Chris Reifert. Thank you to everybody who gave time to the project. Nat Borchers, Brad Evans, Ross Fletcher, Jeff Hosking, Lamar Nagel, Kayla Porter, and Andy Rose. Thank you to the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers for their help in putting this program together.
00:42:22
Speaker
This has been a production of Nos Audietes. And remember, you'll never yacht alone.
00:43:03
Speaker
I expect an LAFC who is motivated ah to prove themselves at home, to prove to their fans that they're they're capable of winning in this league. And it's up to us to really ruin the party.
00:43:16
Speaker
You guys like that? and a what Awkward joke, dad joke right there, huh?