Major League Soccer needs attention and they got it from a Hollywood source, “The Rock” Dwayne Johnson took to Twitter to “analyze” a play involving Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Tim Melia and Seattle Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldán. In the WWE style slam, Melia grabbed Roldan and slammed him on the pitch, the referee issued a yellow card but did not call the obvious penalty kick for the infraction that happened mid-play in the Kansas City penalty box.
“The Rock” scrolling through Twitter saw it and highlighted that Melia’s grab resembled his famous “Rock Bottom” finisher which delighted fans across the world for years. The MLS Twitter account quickly retweeted the play poking fun at what just happened, which later led to debateby pundits indicating how MLS could later suspend Melia if the play is being “promoted” on social media.
The MLS Disciplinary Committee reviewed the play and suspended Tim Melia for one match and issued an undisclosed fine for violent conduct. Here is the fallout from Tim Melia’s rock bottom on Cristian Roldán.
Pundits on Tim Melia’s rock bottom
Tim Melia receives a yellow card after wild sequence with Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders YouTube)
Soccer pundits Sebastián Salazar and Hérculez Gómez called the possible suspension, at the time, ridiculous. With Hérculez Gómez posing the question, “What is MLS promoting? You’re promoting Dwayne Johnson, you’re so desperate for attention that if you see it “am going to latch on to it” and say, “Yeah! Hey, this is funny! It should have been a red card! Thanks for tagging us! Thanks for looking at us! Thanks for believing in us! Thanks for even acknowledging us!”
Salazar added if MLS was promoting anything it was violence against players and bad officiating. Melia, who has been a rock in goal for Sporting Kansas City, is in his seventh season with the club following a return in 2015. Sporting has been one of the better teams in MLS along with the Supporter Shield winners New England Revolution and Western Conference leaders Seattle Sounders.
