CHESTER, Pa. -- The situation was growing dire for the Union.
With the game tied at one in the second half and facing a Colorado Rapids team that happily parked the defensive bus in order to grind out an ugly draw, the Union got a break when Rapids forward Caleb Calvert received a red-card ejection for entering the field illegally.
Five minutes later, the Union claimed the 2-1 lead and eventual victory (see game story).
"I've never seen that to be honest with you," Union manager Jim Curtin said. "Where you reenter the field like a sneak attack from behind the goal. You knew something was wrong with it when you saw it, just the eyeball test. But the laws of the game, that's a violation."
How it all happened was unique. In the 69th minute, Calvert went down injured on the Union goal line and remained there, writhing in pain. Not buying his injury, referee Jose Carlos Rivero went over to the player, held a conversation and immediately threw up the yellow card for dissent.
"The second yellow and yellows in that quick succession," Curtin said, "it was probably in the referee's mind that something verbal was said and he was upset."
With a warning on his name and with a trainer now at his side, Calvert, who scored his first MLS goal in the 15th minute but was unavailable to the media after the match, got to his feet and left the playing field behind the Union goal. Confused as to whether he could or couldn't reenter the match, the 20-year-old forward hesitated briefly before sneaking back onto the field.
"They told me they were trying to tell him to stay off the field," Rapids left back Eric Miller said. "But how many people were here tonight? 20,000? 20,000 people and the referee was 60 yards away, it's gonna be tough to hear him probably."
Calvert was carded again, this time with Rivero showing red, ejecting the youngster from the game.
"You don't just quickly send a guy off for two dumb things in a row," Miller said. "I'm sure he thinks he made the right call."
Rapids assistant coach and former Union striker Conor Casey was also ejected. Head coach Pablo Mastroeni didn't make himself available to the media after the game.
"It's tough when a referee has such a massive impact on the outcome of the game," Miller said.
But the Union feel like the game was decided even before Calvert's ejection. While it did change the contest and made taking the lead with a Haris Medunjanin free kick goal a bit easier, Union attacker Chris Pontius believes C.J. Sapong's game-tying penalty kick minutes before the incident is what stole momentum.
"I think they were rattled when we got the first goal," said Pontius, who said he's never witnessed anything like what happened Saturday. "I don't think they knew what to do. I think even if they had 11 men, we were still getting another goal."
