I did not know that the MLS was a giant holding area for players seeking addiction counseling.
Through the Revs vs Fire match, Sullivan and Bretos in their verbiage sprinkled the word “intervention”. Even in their word salad, that word stuck out. Whereas Bretos usage was confined to the more physical aspect of the game when a defender cut off a pass or cleared a corner, Sullivan’s was a bit more cognitive when he said that Jeff Larontewicz’s “intervention” pushed Shalrie Joseph to play better.
Intervention is the term used by friends or family to get someone to seek professional help with an addiction or some kind of traumatic event or crisis.
Intervention is an active process. Actually, in baseball, the coach and players arriving on the mound to chew things over with a pitcher in trouble could be termed an intervention. But I have yet to hear Tim McCarver describing it like that.
Since such “interventions” on their star player will constitute yellow cards for every player and a coaching ejection in a soccer game, I respectfully suggest Chris Sullivan and Max Bretos find a better descriptor. Leading by example, influencing, intercepting, are some alternate suggestions. Jeff Larentowicz helped Shalrie Joseph get his groove on. Now that’s more like it.