Vancouver Whitecaps coach Vanni Sartini and six of his players were issued fines by Major League Soccer on Tuesday after criticizing a referee during Saturday’s 3-1 loss to St. Louis City.

Tristan Blackmon, Deiber Caicedo, Andres Cubas, Levonte Johnson, Luis Martins and Ranko Veselinovic were each dealt undisclosed fines for “inciting and/or escalating a mass confrontation,” while Sartini received his fine for violating the league’s policy on public criticism.

The mass confrontation occurred in the final minutes of the match against St. Louis when a number of players got in the face of referee Serhiy Boyko. Sartini then added fuel to the fire following the loss, attacking Boyko in a postgame press conference.

“It’s hard to win when the other team has 12 men,” Sartini said. “That’s the initial thought and if we don’t receive a letter from the league that apologizes for the shameful performance of the referee. …

“It’s something that the league can do it, and should do it because it’s for the good of the league, because we export this product away and when there’s something that’s completely shameful, unfortunately shameful, because it looked like the referee was a player for them. It’s really hard to comment on the game.”

The Whitecaps (4-5-5, 17 points) will look to turn things around on Wednesday when they host the Houston Dynamo. Vancouver has lost three of its past four games.

–Field Level Media