In Wednesday's 3-0 loss to the Chicago Fire at Rio Tinto stadium, frustration over the team's performance in recent mathes clearly boiled over in a lone violent act by their captain Kyle Beckerman. Real Salt Lake had literally just conceded a goal almost directly off of a throw-in (the first of what proved to be a hat trick for Marco Pappa), and Beckerman had some sort of beef with Fire midfielder Daniel Palladini dishing out a full on head-butt into the shoulder of Paladini. Without hesitation, the referee Baldomero Toledo pulled the red card out of his back pocket and gave Beckerman his marching orders.
There are several implications and consequences in Beckerman's head-butt. First of all, he will be out for Saturday's match against the league-leading LA Galaxy which is in of itself major. Second of all, seeing the nature of RSL's captain's actions, he may be facing much more than just the standard one match suspension. With only four matches left in the season, a potential lengthy suspension for Beckerman could seriously hurt RSL's chances in the Supporter's Shield race that have already been hurt enough as it is with their twi recent losses to DC United and Chicago. Not only that, the suspension may spill over into the play-offs and seriously hurt RSL's chances at the Cup as well.
Beckerman's lashing out seriously could not have come at a worse time for RSL.
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