Yesterday, I got a chance to talk to FC Dallas coach Oscar Pareja about his version of the events surrounding the potential rules violation in Michael Barrios’ substitution at Orlando City this last weekend. After the interview took place I was asked by Pareja to wait until the league made and announced a ruling to run the piece. I agreed to hold the quotes.
Today MLS has announced their ruling and the details of it match what Pareja told me yesterday. So I won’t bother to run the quotes or go over the details again in this space as it will provide nothing new.
The only additional information that Pareja added this afternoon when I reached him by phone at the airport was regarding their initial approach to the referee. “We were concerned about losing a potential sub off the bench. That’s why we asked the referee for clarification.”
According to MLS’ ruling, it was then the referee, mistakenly it turns out, allowed Barrios to be on the list of subs.