Kyle Beckerman's second yellow card in the knockout stages of the CONCACAF Champions League will force him to miss the second leg of the final next week.
The Real Salt Lake captain was cautioned for a challenge just after the third goal in Wednesday night's 2-2 draw with Monterrey at Estadio Tecnologio and has been forced out of the return leg at Rio Tinto Stadium in a week's time.
RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando said the absence of Beckerman would be significant but is confident that squad is strong enough to cover him.
"He's a guy that makes us tick, both on the field and off," said Rimando after the match.
"And he's bummed right now in the locker room. To see his head down is something that you never see, ever. But again, we keep saying that we pride ourselves on depth, and now we have a couple of players that can fill that position."
Beckerman felt he was hardly done by as the player he tackled seem to overplay things a bit and his coach, Jason Kreis, agreed.
"It was a 50-50 ball, and I went in," described Beckerman. "The other guy went down like he'd been shot. And the referee bit on his acting."
"I think it's a travesty, to be completely honest because that, for me, was a fair tackle. It wasn't even a foul," added Kreis.
"That was mindboggling to me. I'm extremely disappointed with the referees."
