Sounders
Leading scorer to miss final

By MATT MASSEY
Special to The Seattle Times

Welton, Seattle's leading scorer, still can't play.

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A referee trying to maintain control of a match, confusion over a substitution and a language barrier ultimately will keep Seattle Sounders' leading goal-scorer Welton from playing in tomorrow's A-League championship match.

League officials Thursday officially denied an appeal by Sounders management to have Welton's one-game suspension lifted because of circumstances surrounding his ejection from Game 2 of the Western Conference finals Sunday in Vancouver, B.C.

The denied appeal left Sounders general manager Adrian Hanauer fuming before he left yesterday for the Sounders' title match against the Montreal Impact.

"I think the referee made a horrible mistake," Hanauer said of Welton's 72nd-minute ejection. "I think he ought to admit that he made a mistake and rescind the second yellow card so Welton can play in the final.

"It's an injustice to Welton."

Head referee Hu "Tiger" Liu issued Welton his second yellow card for a delay in the 72nd minute. Welton was given his first yellow card in the 69th minute for pushing an opponent during a free-kick setup.

"There is an injustice being levied on a young man whose language skills and legitimate confusion were construed as delay," said Hanauer, noting the Brazilian-born Welton entered the match with just one yellow card this season.

What contributed to a confusing situation was that Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer wanted to change his initial substitution request. Noticing an injured Jason Farrell sitting on the field, Schmetzer tried change his initial request from Chad Brown for Welton to Brown for the injured Farrell.

From the time the ball went out of bounds to the time Welton reached the Sounders sideline, Hanauer says 34 seconds elapsed. Hanauer contends there wasn't sufficient time to warrant calling a delay.
 
"It was so clear that Welton was not delaying the game," Hanauer said.

Welton, who speaks Portuguese and Spanish fluently but struggles with English, attempted to listen to Liu, Schmetzer, Brown and the fourth official in charge of subs before Liu sent him off with his second yellow.

After leaving the field , Welton directed an obscene gesture toward Kevin Duliba, the fourth official.

Sunday's match resulted in a 1-1 tie between the Whitecaps and Sounders, giving Seattle a 2-1 aggregate goals victory in the Western Conference finals. There were 25 fouls, six yellow cards and Welton's ejection in the physical match.

According to Federation International Football Association (FIFA) rules, a player sent off must serve a one-match suspension in the next match the team plays.

Welton is tied as the Sounders scoring leader with 24 points. Welton scored a team-best 12 goals this season.

Tim Holt, A-League director of operations, said because the second yellow card was a judgment call, a three-person committee couldn't change the decision.

""We, as an organization, have no authority to rescind or reverse a judgment call like that," Holt said.