Erpen gets longer Holiday

According to Steven Goff at the Washington Post.com, MLS will be giving Facundo Erpen a longer MLS sponsored holiday due to his red card in last weeks match against RBNY. Facundo picked up a red card for stomping on RBNY player, John Wolyniec during the second half. There might have been some contact between Erpen and the Ref, but MLS is not saying exactly. Erpen will miss tomorrow nights match in Houston against the Houston Power Supply and the match against the New England Revolution on October 7th at RFK. Erpen was also fined an extra $250 for his time.

As United have decided on catching up to the rest of league in the numbers of Yellow and Red cards, prompting the Garber & Co. To reward several United players with MLS sponsored holiday's, I am going to take a different path than most and say that these MLS sponsored holidays are a good thing for DC United.

Why do you ask?

Several reasons.

First, it gives several guys time off that maybe Peter Nowak would have not given them. After such a long season, and one that has had the last two months compacted with matches, a little rest can go along way, just ask Jaime Moreno. Giving Bobby Boswell, Josh Gros and Christian Gomez MLS sponsored holidays due to yellow card accumulation for the RSL match at RFK, those guys were able to get some time off the field, which hopefully will go along way towards having them fit for the playoffs.

A second reason is the flip side of giving the guys rest, giving other guys a chance to get some time on the field. Guys like Jeff Carroll, Stephen deRoux, Rod Dyachenko all have been able to get more time on the field, which in several cases, has shown that United's bench is in pretty good shape. Having these guys able to come off the bench will be a comforting fall back deep in the playoffs, if one of the starters comes up lame or picks up a season ending injury.

So as Erpen starts his two week MLS sponsored holiday, hopefully he will remain match fit, but get a chance to recharge his legs and be ready to come back for the final regular season match and run right into the playoffs.