The USMNT will dispute Jermaine Jones' red card, the US Soccer Federation announced on Twitter earlier today.
An official protest has been filed against the cards issued to Jermaine Jones and Bobby Wood in #USAvECU
— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) June 17, 2016
Jones was controversially sent off against Ecuador, as he appeared to raise his hand into Michael Arroyo's face during a scuffle following the dismissal of Antonio Valencia.
The red card was met with a lot of disbelief, not least from Jones himself, who was actually still on the pitch while the game continued in a thoroughly confusing couple of minutes. Jurgen Klinsmann called the incident "an absolute joke" and a "disgrace" in his post-match comments. He also referenced the fact that the fourth official made the call, and that the referee had not seen it.
U.S. Soccer told ESPNFC that their appeal aims to highlight a misinterpretation of Law 12. The FIFA rule book says:
"A player who, when not challenging for the ball, deliberately strikes an opponent or any other person on the head or face with the hand or arm, is guilty of violent conduct unless the force used was negligible."
There wasn't a lot of contact from Jones on Arroyo, and so it seems that the USMNT will be hoping that the incident will be ruled as negligible. If not, a charge of violent conduct against Jones could see him ruled out for 2-3 matches, which would rule him out for the rest of the Copa America.
The USMNT will also be appealing Bobby Wood's yellow card suspension, which he received shortly after the Jones incident, but not Bedoya's, whose card was very much warranted.
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