Banned: Sacha Kljestan to miss first game of 2018 after Altidore-incident in playoffs

Whether he returns to the team for 2018 or gets picked up by another MLS outfit, Sacha Kljestan will not appear in the first game of the season.

On Thursday MLS officially announced that Kljestan and Toronto FC striker Jozy Altidore would both have their red card suspensions upheld, following a controversial incident at BMO Field in the second leg of the MLS Cup Playoff Conference Semi-Finals.

Per the MLS announcement, Kljestan will miss the first game of the 2018 season while Altidore will miss the first leg of the Conference Finals against Columbus.

Kljestan and Altidore were both sent off for violent conduct at halftime of the game.

The Red Bulls went on to win the game 1-0, but lost in the aggregate 2-2 on away goals.

Kljestan, who was named captain for the 2017 season after the loss of Dax McCarty, played in 32 of 34 regular season games and went on to lead the league with 17 assists.