Marcos Mondaini Officially Suspended Four Matches, Fined $1,500

Chivas USA forward Marcos Mondaini has been suspended four matches and fined $1,500 for his ankle-breaking tackle of Real Salt Lake midfielder Javier Morales. Mondaini received a red card at the time of the play, which carried an automatic one-game ban and $250 suspension.

The punishment comes just a couple weeks after the league suspended Brian Mullan 10 games and fined him $5,000 for his leg-breaking tackle of Steve Zakuani. Nelson Rodriguez, the spokesperson for the league's Disciplinary Committee, explained the difference in punishment this way in an article at MLSsoccer.com:

"During its discussions, the committee characterized Mondaini’s tackle as late, clumsy, and from behind," Rodriguez said. "It was also, however, seen as an attempt to prevent his opponent from scoring. Brian Mullan’s tackle on Steve Zakuani last month did not serve such a purpose. Rather, it showed utter disregard for his opponent’s safety and appeared to be driven by anger."

There has been no official word from MLS, but it appears that Chivas USA forward Marcos Mondaini will be suspended four matches (three games plus the one that automatically comes with the red card) and fined $1,250 for his ankle breaking tackle of Real Salt Lake midfielder Javier Morales on Saturday. The four-game suspension also matches up with independent reporting by SB Nation Soccer. The punishment was originally reported as being five games, but that report was quickly corrected:

The four-game suspension is still one of the heaviest in league history, but it is considerably less than some had expected. There had been speculation that Mondaini would receive a substantially greater punishment in light of Brian Mullan's 10-game suspension and $5,000 fine that he received for breaking Steve Zakuani's leg.

There is no obvious replacement for Real Salt Lake midfielder Javier Morales, leaving Real Salt Lake fans to pin at least some of their MLS Cup hopes on his 2011 return. RSL Soapbox, SB Nation's Real Salt Lake blog, puts those hopes into three categories, with No. 3 probably making the most sense:

3. Fans should want Javi back against Colorado as well, but not get overly optimistic.

We too should want Javi back as soon as possible. However, we are also susceptible to Charlie Davies Syndrome (CDS). CDS developed when, after his horrendous accident, Charlie targeted the World Cup as a return date to soccer. His tweets gave him (and the more optimistic USMNT supporters) hope that all would be well for the World Cup and he would put the country on his back, single-handedly defeat Mother England and lead the Stars and Stripes to glory and the World Cup title. For those of you who were in a coma last June, that didn’t happen.

Javier Morales' surgery to repair his fractured-dislocated left ankle and torn ligaments he suffered on Saturday was successful. Real Salt Lake team physician Dr. Andrew Cooper said the recovery will take until at least October:

"When you look at ultimate recovery, I think age plays a little bit of a role into this," Cooper told reporters in a conference call on Monday. "That October range is, I think, our goal, but an hour-and-a-half after surgery you never know what’s going to come up."

Morales suffered the injury when he was tackled from behind by Chivas USA forward Marco Mondaini. Morales is the fourth big-name player to go out with a potentially season-ending injury in the past three weeks. Steve Zakuani, David Ferreira and Branko Boskovic have also been sidelined by injuries suffered after being tackled. Brian Mullan, who like Mondaini received a red card for his tackle, was suspended 10 games. No decision has yet been reached on further punishment for Mondaini.

Javier Morales is not a player who is easily replaced. Not only does Real Salt Lake have another player with his skillset, but there might not be another player in all of MLS with his abilities. So, it should come as no surprise that Jason Kreis has quite a conundrum on his hands. RSL Soapbox, SB Nation's Real Salt Lake blog, suggests Collen Warner might be the best option:

If we put some trust in Collen Warner and allow him to take that position we still have the depth and experience around him to ease the transition. This also allows us to not add additional pressure to Andy Williams who needs to be able to focus on his family. It is a risk to put a second year guy in charge of your offense, but the reality is that this is a team build on a lot of risks and without risk there can be no reward. This would be a bold step and one that I believe is the right one.