Four Seattle Sounders have received red cards through 11 games this season -- most recently the one by Tyrone Marshall that is discussed a couple of posts below. (I wrote about that in the Thursday paper.)

Anyway, here is a review of the four and what they may have cost the Sounders. (Quite a bit.)

And since Alan Hinton was at training Wednesday, and since -- as a former English player, NASL Sounders coach and MISL Tacoma Stars coach -- he knows about as much about soccer as anyone I know, I also got his opinion on the appropriateness of each card.

KASEY KELLER
For: Handball outside the box in a goal-scoring situation.
Result: Sounders lost that night to Kansas City and the next week at Chivas.
Hinton’s verdict: “I don’t blame the referee for the Kasey Keller deal. I don’t blame Kasey either, because Kasey did the right thing. Unfortunately the guy who tried to chip Kasey didn’t do a great job with the chip and it hit Kasey on the arm, so that’s an automatic red card.”

FREDY MONTERO
For: Throwing elbow while leaping for a header.
Result: Sounders tied that day at Chicago and the next week against Los Angeles.
Hinton’s verdict: “The Montero deal I thought was harsh.” (He thought a yellow would have been right.)

JAMES RILEY
For: Open-handed swing at back of opponent’s neck during melee.
Result: Sounders tied that day against Los Angeles and the following week at FC Dallas.
Hinton’s verdict: “You can’t do that. I talked to James, and you can’t do that. He slapped the guy around the back of the neck. I think James learned from that.”

TYRONE MARSHALL
For: Punch/push/mystery off-camera infraction while struggling for position against Columbus striker.
Result: Sounders tied against Columbus (though red card came in stoppage time), and will play without Marshall at Chivas USA on Saturday.
Hinton’s verdict: “I didn’t see conclusively. Tyrone apparently just threw his elbow a little bit having been very much provoked by the striker for Columbus. The assistant referee said it was a punch, and it certainly wasn’t a punch.”

Costa Rica scored goals -- beautiful goals -- in the second and 13th minutes, and as a practical matter, that was that. The insult came in the 69th minute, as Costa Rica just make the US look silly, literally running a circle through the penalty area before finishing.

The lone U.S. goal came on a Landon Donovan penalty kick in stoppage time.

The surface looked like the stuff the Sounders used to play on at Memorial Stadium, but that's no excuse. This was a whipping, and as a result, Costa Rica moves to the top of the CONCACAF qualifying table.

Details will be available at USsoccer.org.

The USA returns to World Cup qualifying against Honduras on Saturday in Chicago.

I've thrown only one punch in adulthood, and that happened on a soccer pitch.

I was in the Federal Way over-40 league (the league demanded only that we actually be over 40, not necessarily that we acted like it), and I was jawing with some forward. (And you know how forwards are.) In any case, things got a little more personal than they should have, and finally the guy spit at me. I hadn't expected that, so I paused a second while debating what to do -- ignore it? complain to the ref? punch him? I settled on the third option under the theory that some infactions transend the game and therefore call for a response that transends the game. (My wife didn't necessarily fully understand, but apparently the ref did. He listened to both of our stories and let me remain in the game despite league rules demanding a red card for throwing a punch.)

I mention this now because I was envisioning something like that reasoning from Tyrone Marshall's immediate defense of the red card that he picked up Saturday vs. Columbus: "He was coming in being very aggressive. I think he ran into me with his elbow. Being the competitor that I am, I’m not going to take that, you know? I’m going to let him know."

And while I kind of understood, that answer also could be taken as vaguely selfish. Marshall seemed to be standing up for himself while leaving his team a man short in stoppage time of an even game, and now sending them down to Chivas this weekend without him.

However, I asked Marshall a little more about that today -- sparing him my spit/punch story -- and he clarified that he saw his actions as standing up for the team as much as for himself.

"I don’t think it’s putting yourself ahead of the team," he said. "I think it’s trying to give the team an opportunity to win and not lose. They are pressing and we’re trying to make sure as defenders that the forwards don’t get the upper hand on us, so we have the proper position and all that good stuff. A lot of things come into play in that situation. Never ever will I put myself in front of the team. It’s a team effort. If you’re not thinking about the team it’s a different sport you should be playing, it should be tennis or golf of one of those things."

I also asked if this was one of those situations where he wouldn't have had to act if the referee had proactively kept things under control.

"The best referees in the world are the ones who you don’t noticed in the game and manage the game properly," he said. "At that particular point, the lineman called him over and said he saw me hit him with a closed fist. I don’t know if from 30 or 40 yards you can see if my hand is closed or not. It’s basically a judgement call. That’s why I think he’s on the line and the referee is in the middle, closer to the play. It’s just one of those situations, it happened, and I have to move on and hopefully my team will do well this weekend and my suspension will not hurt the team. It’s one of those situations where I’m a competitior and that’s what I bring to the table day in and day out. Everybody knows me, and that’s how I play and it’s not going to be any different next week. If it comes to the same situation it’s going to be the same thing. It’s one of those things that happened, it went against me and I hope it won’t happen again."

Marshall said he will try to put his free weekend to use by having a barbeque with his family, resting his 35-year-old bones, and watching on TV like the rest of us.

"It’s going to be tough," he said. "But at the same time, too, I have to utilize these minutes. The game that I’m off, I’ll try to take care of my body and keep it strong and fit for when I get back the next time around."

That should be June 13, when San Jose visits.

The Sounders are off the pitch from another warm day of training.

The highlight of the session might have been Taylor Graham pouring a Gatorade container of water over the head of current and former teammate Roger Levesque. Levesque didn't really do anything to deserve it, but Graham said it is his birthday so he felt free to have his fun.

Meanwhile, coach Sigi Schmid implied that Patrick Ianni may start Saturday at Chivas in place of Tyrone Marshall, who is serving a red-card suspension. (More on that later.)

“You don’t want to lose people down the middle of the field for sure," Schmid said. "And obviously they earned those starting spots. But on the same token it’s an opportunity for somebody else. I think Patrick Ianni has played well in the games that he has come in to play. I thought he played well the other night in the Open Cup game as a center back. He started in this league before, so it’s a chance for him to put a stamp on it and say ‘I’m here, I’m ready and I’m willing to compete’.”

And finally, Nate Jaqua missed practice today while attending his grandfather's funeral in Oregon. Jaqua is expected back tonight and will train with the team tomorrow.

The U.S. Men's National Team will play at Costa Rica at 7 o'clock tonight in a World Cup qualifier matching the No. 1 and 2 teams in the current CONCACAF standings.

Here's a preview from U.S. Soccer.