No Apology, No Job: The Crew Part Ways With Federico Higuaín

Federico Higuaín played eight seasons for the Columbus Crew and is one of the best players the club has had. On Tuesday the Crew fired him as coach of their second team, for cause, effective immediately.

The trigger was an Aug. 23 game. During the postgame handshake, Higuaín held on to a female referee's hand after she asked him three times to let go, and told her not to forget this is a man's game. He got a red card on the spot. MLS NEXT Pro then gave him a two-game suspension, which counted the red card as one of the games, and ordered restorative practice sessions, sources told ESPN.

The referees' union, the Professional Soccer Referees Association, said publicly that the penalty sent the wrong message and that grabbing a referee plus discriminatory language deserved more. A league spokesperson couldn't say why it wasn't treated as a forceful grab.

At first the Crew backed the league's process. What changed, sources said, was Higuaín's response afterward: the club saw no contrition, no public apology to the referee and no real accountability. Supporters groups, including the Nordecke and CapyBrava, were calling for him to go.

General manager Issa Tall said the standards the club expects of a team leader hadn't been met. Crew 2's assistants will run the team through the MLS NEXT Pro playoffs while the club looks for a permanent coach. Higuaín is 41.