In pursuit of a record
October 2, 2009

There are three games left, but the season has been over for months. So why watch? Well, because this is your last Metro fix for months. Or, possibly, because you might just see a record-breaking performance.

No, not from Juan Pablo Angel, who recently broke Giovanni Savarese's league scoring record and Clint Mathis' all competition one. Rather from Carlos Johnson, who is on the verge of league history.

The league record for red cards in a season.

Johnson stands at three, in only 10 games. That is equal two ex-Metros: Branco, who got three in 11 matches for this very team in 1997, and Ezra Hendrickson, whose three for the Galaxy came in 2000, but it took him 22 games.

So how did Johnson get here? His first red card came in his first start, 78th minutes into a scoreless draw in Houston, after a dumb tackle in the corner on the Dynamo's Geoff Cameron. His second was a record-setter in its own right, the fastest ejection in MLS history. It came two minutes into the match in Kansas City, as Johnson hacked down Herculez Gomez in the box. Claudio Lopez converted the ensuing penalty kick for the only goal of the game. Johnson's third dismissal came after the final whistle, caused by an altercation with Kansas City's Micahel Harrington in a 1:0 loss.

(For the record, Branco's three ejections came against Colorado in the 83rd minute (tackle from behind), turning a 1:0 deficit into a 2:0 loss; against San Jose in the 65th (hard foul), Metro was down 2:0 and lost 4:0; and for spitting on Columbus' Mike Lapper in the 56th, in the game eventually won by the Crew 1:0, costing Metro a playoff berth.)

So will Johnson erase a Metro "legend" (and, oh, yes, Ezra Hendrickson) from the MLS record books? It gives us a reason to watch, doesn't it?

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