MLS suspends Impact coach Klopas for one game

Montreal Impact head coach Frank Klopas speaks during a news conference. (Graham Hughes/CP)

NEW YORK — Montreal Impact coach Frank Klopas has been suspended one game and fined an undisclosed amount for leaving the bench area during a game, Major League Soccer announced Tuesday.<br><br>

Klopas will sit out Saturday’s game against Real Salt Lake. Assistant coach Mauro Biello usually takes over when the head coach is suspended.<br><br>

The league’s disciplinary committee ruled that Klopas violated a policy on &#34;entering the field/leaving the bench area in the 90th minute of Montreal’s match against the Portland Timbers&#34; last Saturday. Portland won the game 2-1.<br><br>

As his team prepared for a free kick near the Impact bench area, Klopas briefly stepped over the sideline to kick the ball back to his player before it rolled out of bounds.<br><br>

It is the second suspension this season for the Impact’s second-year coach. Klopas missed the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals against Alajuelense for a similar infraction.<br><br>

He was also suspended for a game in Chicago against his former team last season.<br><br>

Having a coach suspended is nothing new for the Impact. Klopas’s predecessor, Marco Schallibaum, was suspended four times for a total of five games in 2013.<br><br><br><br>

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