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Red Bulls-Revolution fight was all a “misunderstanding"

Just some language translation problem, no big deal.

Jim O'Connor-USA TODAY Sports

Jermain Jones and Felipe Martins got into it at the end of the match on Saturday between the New England Revolution and New York Red Bulls. At the time, Jones claimed that Felipe made comments about his family and took exception. Today, Kristian Dyer at Metro.us has the Red Bulls' side of the story: it was all a misunderstanding.

"Jermaine Jones came up with this thing that said I spoke about his family. I was very, very mad. I'm a guy who loves to win, has a passion for this sport," Martins told Metro. "I'm sometimes hard on the field, I fight to win but I'll never disrespect anyone with hard words about family. I'm a guy who has a family, a kid and a wife. I think he misunderstood me."

The Brazilian Felipe noted that he wouldn't have even try to get away with making comments in Portuguese as the referee in New England, Marcos de Oliveria, is also Brazilian and would pick up on his comments.

Felipe says that the dispute is over with as he texted with Jones after the match, with Jones saying he misunderstood Felipe. Jones' hasn't come out and said the same thing publicly, but it's honestly not something a lot of people would expect. Jesse Marsch on the other hand, sees things differently.

"Jermaine either misunderstood what Felipe said or he fabricated it," Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch said. "I know for a fact that Felipe never said anything about his family; even more so he's not that kind of person. Jermaine hasn't publicly retracted anything but I think he should. Frankly, I don't think Jermaine's behavior was upstanding and so for him to go publicly afterwards is the wrong thing to do. It's against player code and it's against really the level of decency.

"Unless you're absolutely certain that somebody said something, defaming somebody's character isn't the right thing to do."

We will probably never know who's story is right. It's likely the truth is somewhere in the middle. All we know for sure is that Jones approached Felipe after the match, touched him and made some comments that started some trouble between the two teams.

The next match against New England in July should be fun.