by Nora May

In an L.A. Galaxy vs Portland Timbers soccer match on Sunday, Galaxy midfielder Nigel de Jong took down Portland midfielder Darlington Nagbe in a painful tackle. de Jong stomped on Nagbe’s left ankle, causing him to leave the stadium in a wheelchair. de Jong was only given a yellow card for the incident. After the match, he wrote this on the club website:

“It was a ball that came my way. It was 50-50 and normally I always have those balls. But I went over the ball and caught the ball a little bit and caught most of his ankle. It was a pity; it was never my intention to hurt him. He’s a good kid, as well, and I said that after the game, as well, to him. It’s a pity, but that’s football, as well. It was never my intention, and when a ball comes in that situation, you always go for it 100 percent. Unfortunately, I caught him.”

This isn’t the first time de Jong has seriously injured other players- he broke the tibia and fibula of Xabi Alonso after cleating him in the chest during the 2010 World Cup Final and gave Stu Holden a grade 2 MCL sprain in March of the same year. The MLS needs to realize that it’s time to suspend him. de Jong is simply too violent, and he’s made it clear he isn’t learning a lesson by being shown yellow instead of red. “They shouldn’t just let that slide, especially since it’s happened before,” says Megan Russell, a member of the marching band at State High. “If you hurt someone, you get a red card. That’s all I can really say.”