Jackson gets one game suspension from MLS

Well that was quick. You generally have to wait until much closer to game time to get these decisions, but MLS' disciplinary committe (the DisCo) has released their verdict , and Jackson has been sent to the naughty spot for one game and fined an undisclosed amount for 'aggressive inflammatory behaviour'. I guess aggressive or inflammatory would have been fine, but put both together and whoa there, you've got yourself a suspension.  Here's the behaviour in question, a view that gives a bit more of the back and forth pre elbow jostling and shoving than we saw previously.

Donovan Ricketts also got an extra game on top of his suspension from the red card he got for his clumsy tackle on Deshorn Brown. Alvaro Saaborio did not get a suspension despite the lobbying of multiple LA coaches/players, which Ryan Nelsen decided to get in on as well, so he'll be there for RSL on Saturday.

Jackson's suspension can't really come as a surprise to anyone (except maybe Silviu Petrescu who deemed it worthy only of a yellow card at the time) with many people predicting a couple of games, so all in all there have been worse result for TFC players at a disco. He's been very feisty so far over his two games which isn't necessarily a bad thing and overall he's provided some good moments on the left wing, but to pick up a suspension within his first two games isn't a good sign and merely confirms the suspicions that followed him over from Dallas. Despite impressive performances from the first team so far, the one are where TFC doesn't look convincing so far is their depth. Injuries or world cup absences will be unavoidable, we really don't need to have extra strain put on the squad from petty suspensions like this one.

The question now of course is;  who plays in his place on Saturday? I'd expect us to see Gilberto starting again up front alongside Jermain Defoe with Dwayne de Rosario on the left. Hopefully the interminable Issey or Issntey Nakajima Farran deal might finally have gone through by then and he'll be at least available as an option off the bench. If not we'll probably be down to Andrew Wiedeman as the only attacking option, which doesn't sound all that good does it, especially if we fall behind and are chasing the game.

The silver lining in all of this? With a hat tip to Travis Martin on twitter, the ref on Saturday is Baldomero Toledo, so it's probably for the best that Jackson isn't out there to tempt hi into flashing a red card.

And while I'm on twitter, I'll end with this from Bobby Brizzo

#Breaking . #MLS calls #TFC 's Jackson #Bad. Says he Needs to #GetItTogether .Jackson in #StateOfShock .He thought he was a #SmoothCriminal

— BobbyBrizzo (@BobbyBrizzo) March 26, 2014

Well done sir.