That Inter Miami-Philadelphia Union game on Wednesday was an absolute powder keg, and now MLS has officially dropped fines on Lionel Messi and Ian Fray for their roles in the chaos. But get this, they also totally rescinded midfielder Cavan Sullivan’s red card, a move nobody saw coming after that wild finish!
Messi and Fray Get Tagged For Throwing Hands
MLS announced Friday that Miami’s star, Lionel Messi, is getting hit with an undisclosed fine for putting his hands on an opposing player’s face or neck area. His teammate, Ian Fray, is also getting penalized for doing the exact same thing. We all saw it go down: Messi struck Philadelphia’s Quinn Sullivan in the back of the head, and then those two went forehead-to-forehead in a real heated moment. The league has a strict policy: touching an opponent’s head or neck is a huge no-no in soccer, and they usually punish that harshly, no matter what the intent was. The bulk of the action, the stuff that really blew up, actually happened in the 12th minute of second-half stoppage time, after the game was already a 2-2 draw. Quinn Sullivan went down after what looked like a super chippy collision in the box, and then Fray came over and seemed to grab at Sullivan’s head as he stepped right over him. That’s when Quinn flipped Fray to the ground, and it was on!
The Kid Gets a Reprieve, But Bright’s Out
The craziest part of the whole aftermath is what happened with Cavan Sullivan. The guy ran right in to defend his brother, Quinn, and ended up skirmishing with Miami’s Yannick Bright. Bright seemingly struck Cavan in the face more than once, with Cavan gripping the front of Bright’s jersey in return. Remember, Quinn Sullivan is 22, and Cavan Sullivan is only 16! These brothers both grew up in the Philadelphia Union academy system before making it to the senior team. Cavan even made history, signing a four-year deal with Philly when he was just 14 years old. So for MLS to pull back his red card? That’s a huge deal. It means his one-game suspension has been completely erased, and he’ll be available for Philadelphia’s match against Austin on Saturday. Yannick Bright isn’t so lucky, though. His suspension or red card has not been lifted, so he will definitely miss Miami’s game against Toronto, also on Saturday.
What a rollercoaster! Cavan Sullivan gets to play for Philadelphia against Austin this Saturday, which is a massive win for the Union after that whole mess. Yannick Bright, though, is on the sidelines when Inter Miami takes on Toronto. This whole saga just shows you how wild the early season can get when emotions run high!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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