Melbourne Victory midfielder Zinedine Machach is set to serve a one-game suspension after receiving a red card in his side’s 3-0 Isuzu UTE A-League loss to Sydney FC on Saturday night.
Macach was sent off in the first half of the Big Blue for a challenge on Sydney defender Jordan Courtney-Perkins. Football Australia’s independent Match Review Panel (MRP) convened on Monday afternoon to consider the incident and concluded the Victory midfielder had committed the offence of “Serious foul play (e.g. when challenging for the ball).”
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Machach will serve a one-game suspension – which is the minimum sanction for the offence – meaning he will miss Victory’s away trip to face league-leading Auckland FC on Wednesday, January 1.
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The MRP also issued a one-game ban to Western Sydney head coach Alen Stajcic after reviewing a red card issued to the Wanderers boss in stoppage time of his side’s 3-2 win over Adelaide United in Round 10.
The MRP concluded Stajcic had committed the offence of “Deliberately leaving the Technical Area to act in a provocative or inflammatory manner or enter the opposing Technical Area in an aggressive or confrontational manner, or to enter the video operation room.”
Stajcic’s one-game ban means the Wanderers boss will miss Western Sydney’s home meeting with Macarthur Bulls on January 1 and will be eligible to return to the touchline for the road trip to face Melbourne Victory on Saturday, January 4.
Wanderers defender Gabriel Cleur has also been handed a one-game ban after collecting his fifth yellow card of the season in the Wanderers’ win over Adelaide United in Round 10.
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