Meantime, the Union’s best player is now the target of an investigation after the 3-1 playoff win against New England on Saturday:

Not great!

For context, Kai is German, and the other guy, Bobby Wood, is an American with Japanese and Black ancestry. He was born in Hawai’i, moved to California, and then spent a little more than a decade in Germany, so he speaks the language.

The attached article from The Athletic, written by Tom Bogert and Pablo Maurer, notes that the slur came in German, and says the following, in part:

The complaint alleges the incident occurred in the last moments of New England’s opening-round playoff game against the Union on Sunday night. The match was a tense affair in general and in the 87th minute, Revolution forward ​​Giacomo Vrioni fouled Union defender Nathan Harriel, for which he was issued a yellow card. While the play was checked by the video assistant referee for a possible red card, broadcast footage showed several other players from both sides exchanging words, including Wagner and Wood.

…

The sources said the slur Wagner allegedly directed at Wood was one historically directed toward Asian people. 

These cases are always difficult to litigate because they essentially end up being one person’s word vs. another person’s word. Rarely is there ever any kind of hard evidence to prove the allegation definitively, and when you watch that video back, there’s only one other New England player who appears to be within earshot Wagner and Wood. The captains are called over for a discussion, but the coaches aren’t consulted, nor is anybody removed from the game. Wood stays on the field. Wagner continues to play. They just carried on as if nothing happened, and there was no notice of any kind of slur usage until the article came out on Monday.

One bit of speculation centers on Wood pointing to his eye while speaking with Damion Lowe, which John slowed down in this video clip:

Something to consider, perhaps.

The thing about Wagner is that he’s leaving at the end of this season. He’s likely returning to Europe, so you wonder how that affects the equation. There’s a scenario where he could be suspended and not finish out the playoffs, which would end his Union tenure immediately. If not, he’ll play a couple of more games and then that’s it. There have been several recent incidents of alleged slur usage, all attributed to European MLS players, and while some have continued in the league after suspensions, others have moved on via mutual contract termination.