Hilario Grajeda has been tabbed to replace Alan Kelly as the center official of Thursday's Western Conference Championship second leg between the Seattle Sounders and Houston Dynamo(10:30 pm ET | ESPN, ESPN Deportes in US; TSN, TVAS in Canada).
According to an MLS spokesperson, Kelly suffered an injury and will be unable to be the referee. Instead, he will be the fourth official, while Grajeda, originally scheduled to be the fourth official, will take Kelly's place as the referee for the match.
While changing assignments on gameday may not be especially common, it does happen from time to time, as does the need to substitute a referee or other official out of the match on occasion. The last time it happened also involved Kelly, back on October 31 in the Eastern Conference Semifinal series between Columbus Crew SC and NYCFC, when the Irish-born referee exited the game, reportedly due to illness, and was replaced by fourth official Ismail Elfath.
