This is beginning to look like the expected bullshit to save Dempsey for the Gold Cup, BUT...

I need to see if US Soccer closes the gate on this first.

The MLS has suspended Clint Dempsey for three games for referee abuse for his actions in that fiasco in the Hunt US Open Cup earlier this week.

I think that's incredibly light, given assault of the official to seize his book, ripping up the book, and failing to leave the field in a timely manner.

But here's the one thing which makes me wonder about all this:  This is the first time, to anyone's knowledge, that the MLS has actually suspended an MLS player for an action during the US Open Cup, a US Soccer competition.  Unlike most other league cups, there is no direct tie between the top professional league and the competition.

Now, I fully expect US Soccer will close the gate on this, allowing Dempsey to take the field for the United States in the Gold Cup, even though he should not be allowed to take the field at all for...  Oh, I don't know...  the rest of 2015, for starters?

But before we completely blow our stacks on this one, let's take a look at a couple of things:

• This was a direct decision by the Commissioner of Major League Soccer.  This was not a decision made by even the league's disciplinary committee.

To me, this is correct.  The seriousness of the offense, and it's stature, required direct action by the Commissioner of the league itself.  I have no problem, unlike some, with Don Garber stepping in and taking direct action.  I just think the punishment might well have been absurdly light.

• It needs to be stated, at least for the moment, that this appears to be the first time in US Open Cup history that the top professional league has stepped in and suspended a player for an action in the US Open Cup.

Even a headbutt of a team official in a previous Gold Cup (which got the player banned from the tournament for two solid years!) only received a fine from the MLS.  This is one of the reasons this is such a serious situation -- it may well have been the greatest single-player breach in the history of the tournament by an MLS player.

Hence, I have no issue with this either.  In fact, I believe MLS has been negligent, in the past, in not so disciplining.  If this were a league cup like England's FA Cup, for example, it wouldn't matter:  The Football Association handles both the Cup and league-pyramid discipline.

• The one major thing which the Telegraph's article may correctly rule opening a large "can of worms" is that Garber ruled that the offense in question was not referee assault, but only referee abuse.

The three- (or even perhaps six-) month bans discussed beforehand are from the US Soccer guidelines for acts of referee assault.  If the matter is deemed referee abuse, then the only action which US Soccer might take would be a matches-ban from next year's Gold Cup for the red card itself.

This does open up a large can of worms, because, as previously noted, the referee's "effects" are part of the definition of assault -- and his notebook qualifies as such.  (This is why the match should've immediately been abandoned upon Dempsey tearing up the book -- it should've been treated equivalently to a punch to the official.)

So, in closing:  I need to see if this is separate punishment from US Soccer.  From the history of the US Open Cup, this would appear to be the case.  I will say, however, that if US Soccer allows Dempsey on the team for the Gold Cup, CONCACAF needs to step in and remove him forcibly.