Dani Pereira has been feeling the heat. From teammates, from fans, and — especially — from referees.
The Austin FC midfielder has received seven yellow cards and two red cards this season. He'll be serving his third suspension on Saturday when Verde heads to take on Atlanta United. It's been a mix of aggressive play, a position switch and just plain bad luck.
Whatever the reasons, Pereira has had to play since late April knowing that any tackle could lead to missing the next match. The red card he received against Real Salt Lake was the first reckoning, but it kept his yellow card total on four. Then in Montréal, two yellow cards turned red. Another suspension, and still one yellow card away from another.
So while the timing couldn't have been worse for Austin's depth heading to Atlanta, the yellow card he picked up Monday in Colorado brought a strange sense of relief.
"I'm kind of glad I got it to get over this this nightmare," he joked following the Colorado match, before his face turned deadly serious. "I've got to learn. I can't be getting this many yellows in a season."
Walking by during his post-game interview, Austin FC star Sebastián Driussi gave off major big brother vibes while holding his teammate accountable.
"Ask him about his yellow cards," Driussi said, in English, while passing by on his way to the bus. Pereira took the comment in stride, but he's clearly been feeling responsible for his actions.
"Héctor (Jiménez) lost the ball and then I tried to get back in front of the ball and then (Mark-Anthony Kaye) cut me and I touched him," Pereira said. "I didn't mean to. I did not mean to foul, but he was smart. You play against smart players, and he went down and I got the yellow."
Pereira showed his frustration in the moment, and to make matters worse, the foul led to the free kick that Lalas Abubakar scored on to put Colorado up 1-0. Pereira settled down and played the full 90 minutes as Austin FC turned around a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2.
"I got pissed off," he said. "It took me back to Montréal and the other times when I've gotten yellows. The whole game I was like, 'Don't do a foul, don't do a foul, don't do a foul. Be smart, be smart.'"
He'll still have to be wary when he comes back Tuesday against Houston Dynamo FC, as three more yellow cards would result in another suspension. But at least he'll have a little wiggle room, something that hasn't existed for him since he received his fourth yellow card on April 23 against Vancouver.
When he has played, Pereira has been tremendous, taking on a deeper midfield role that he challenged himself to get better at during the offseason.
And he's scored two goals, too, including the most recent match-winner last week in Charlotte, in front of more than 50 family and friends who made the drive up from Roanoke, Virginia.
"It was amazing," he said. "Especially scoring in front of them. It was more than anything I could ask for. It was amazing, man. It was the most people I've had come to watch me in a match."
