Toronto's Flying Beer Can Isn't a Rallying Point for Dynamo Supporters

We all knew at some point during 2012 there would be a moment where a potentially dangerous foreign object made its way on to a pitch in the general direction of a player. Little did we know, it would happen in March and it would again involve David Beckham. In case you missed it, someone threw a beer can at David Beckham late in last night's CONCACAF Champions League match in Toronto between the LA Galaxy and Toronto FC.

The Galaxy scored on the subsequent corner, so I hope the knucklehead feels extra good about giving the Galaxy extra time to prepare for that set piece that prevented the team said can tosser was presumably there to support from heading in to the second leg with a 2-1 lead.

I'm certain some Dynamo fans and certainly members of the sanctioned supporters groups here in Houston are up in arms and will, or already have, called for MLS to react to the flying beer can that some moron launched towards Beckham last night. They probably feel they have a point and that this is a prime example of the exact type of incident that led to the mass censuring of the Dynamo SGs. Unfortunately, they would be wrong because there are two key issues that will likely prevent MLS from coming down on TFC supporters groups.

1. It's not a league match. Yes, both team's involved were MLS sides but this was a CONCACAF sanctioned match and it's not the business of the league to police CCL matches. Yellow and red cards earned in the tournament are not punished by the league, so while this behavior is ridiculous, they can really do anything.

2. The can didn't come from the Toronto SGs. While reason #1 is a bit shaky, reason #2 is a clear cut fact in my eyes. That can came from a general section on the complete opposite end of the pitch from where the supporters sections were placed. The Galaxy were attacking the SG end at Rogers Centre in the first half, so unless someone threw a beer can 100 yards, it had absolutely nothing to do with any of the SGs.

As for the streamers, while they were out of control, they happened on nearly every LA corner on all four corners of the pitch. If the league and/or Toronto FC wants to get that under control, they will.

MLS can still react to this though and hopefully they will quietly and behind the scenes. Given that the TFC SGs have a history of incidents during league matches, it wouldn't surprise me if they were contacted by the team and/or league and reminded going into the season that they need to police their sections.

As for any type of public sanctions for last night's event, it wouldn't be fair to the SGs at all because like I said in reason #2, the can didn't come from their sections. That's pretty straightforward to me, so calm down and if you're thinking about throwing a fit about this, you need to take your foot off the gas pedal a little bit. You simply cannot throw the book at SGs who had absolutely nothing to do with the incident. And no Dynamo SGs, this is not a similar situation and you know it.

Just a quick reminder, I'm not defending the throwing of the object, it's wrong and the individual who committed the act should be identified and punished appropriately.