MANCHESTER, England, September 19 – The Football Association said Monday that Chelsea left back Ashley Cole would not face further action for a shin-high tackle on Javier Hernandez in Sunday’s 3-1 loss to Manchester United.
United boss Alex Ferguson branded the tackle “shocking” and worthy of a dismissal but under FIFA rules Cole cannot be punished retrospectively as match officials took action to deal with the incident at the time, referee Phil Dowd deeming a yellow card sufficient punishment.
Cole caught Hernandez with a nasty two-footed challenge, although no penalty was awarded as the ball had gone out of play, and the Mexican striker was forced to come off with an injury that could keep him out for at least two weeks.
“For me it’s a shocking tackle. The referee has booked him (Cole) and if he’s booked him I don’t know why it wasn’t a penalty,” Ferguson said afterwards.
