Diego Valeri fined for diving in Sounders match

Mark Geiger had, shall we say, a controversial match. Just one play was deemed worthy of official second-guessing, though: Diego Valeri’s first-half dive.

Although Geiger deserves credit for not whistling this foul, he probably should have shown a yellow to Valeri who clearly embellished some very minimal contact from Nouhou. Valeri was fined an undisclosed amount.

While it wouldn’t have been unheard of for Geiger to show a yellow to Valeri, the reality is that a fine is about as much as can be expected in this situation. MLS has suspended players for diving, but only when a penalty resulted.

It should also be said that the Disciplinary Committee recently updated its criteria for issuing suspensions. The only time the D.C. will step in is when a player is deemed to be deserving of at least a two-game ban, essentially saying that VAR should be showing red cards for more standard violations.