A red card and accompanying one-game suspension erroneously issued to Crew SC captain Michael Parkhurst during a 3-2 win over New York City FC on Saturday has been rescinded by Major League Soccer, but the Crew could still be without a starting center back against visiting Houston this weekend.

A red card and accompanying one-game suspension erroneously issued to Crew SC captain Michael Parkhurst during a 3-2 win over New York City FC on Saturday has been rescinded by Major League Soccer, but the Crew could still be without a starting center back against visiting Houston this weekend.



Crew SC coach and sporting director Gregg Berhalter said this morning that the league retroactively issued the red card to Crew defender Tyson Wahl, the player that referee Ted Unkel meant to eject instead of Parkhurst.



The Crew has appealed Wahl�s red card. The appeal will be reviewed by the league�s three-person red-card review panel this week.



Wahl was deemed to have committed a foul on New York�s Kwadwo Poku in the penalty area in the 85th minute on Saturday, leading to a penalty kick that was converted by New York star David Villa.



Further, Unkel determined that Wahl�s foul was egregious enough to constitute �a denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity,� grounds for a red-card ejection.



But Unkel mistakenly issued the red card to Parkhurst, who was not involved in the play in the penalty area, and Wahl remained in the game.



About 20 minutes after the game ended, fourth official Jorge Gonzalez met with The Dispatch outside the officials� locker room.



MLS allows a designated pool reporter, in this case one from The Dispatch, to submit written questions to the referee following games.



Gonzalez read a hand-written answer, presumably penned by Unkel, to The Dispatch in response to a question asking why Parkhurst was ejected.



�Michael Parkhurst was sent off for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity as the referee crew mistakenly identified him as the player who committed the foul,� Gonzalez read. �The player who should have been sent off was Tyson Wahl, as the player who committed the foul.�



Parkhurst had a brief conversation with Unkel after he was shown the red card, he said.



�He said it was a foul on me,� Parkhurst said. �There was nothing I could do. I thought he was just giving it to me because I was standing there. I wasn�t that upset. I talked to him and I was pretty calm about it. I tried to tell what had happened, but he thought otherwise.�



The case of mistaken identity led the league to retroactively issue the red card to Wahl. The Crew will appeal Wahl�s one-game suspension on the grounds that his contact with Poku was not a denial of an obvious scoring opportunity, Berhalter said.



According to league rules, an anonymous three-person review panel made up of representatives from U.S. Soccer, the Canadian Soccer Association and the Professional Referees Organization can rule one of three ways:



1. The appeal is upheld and Wahl�s one-game suspension is rescinded



2. The appeal is denied. Wahl will serve his suspension on Saturday against the Dynamo and the Crew will have only one of its two allotted appeals per season remaining.



3. The appeal is deemed �frivolous.� The Crew will lose a $25,000 appeals bond and the right to appeals in the 2016 and 2017 seasons. Wahl�s suspension is doubled to two games.



If Wahl is suspended, the Crew could be without two of its top three center backs against Houston. Usual starter Gaston Sauro did not play on Saturday because of hamstring strain suffered at Montreal on April 9 that was expected to keep him out for two to four weeks.



The only other center back on the Crew�s roster is Egyptian Amro Tarek, who made his MLS debut when he subbed on against New York City after Villa�s penalty kick and played the final two minutes.



smitchell@dispatch.com



@smitchcd