[ad_1]
The Concacaf Nations League match between the United States vs. Mexico was suspended the second year in a row due to homophobic chants made by Mexico fans.
Canadian referee Drew Fischer ended play in the United States 88th-minute. 2-0 victory in Sunday night’s final, played before a crowd of 59,471 at AT&T Stadium.
After just over four minutes, play resumed. Fischer then halted the game again six minutes after the end of stoppage time. The match continued until the ninth minute added time.
CONCACAF condemned the discriminatory chanting, the regional governing body for North and Central America and Caribbean said in a press release. “Security staff identified and ejected significant numbers of fans in the stadium, and referees and match officials activated FIFA protocol. … It is extremely disappointing to see that this matter continues as a concern at some matches.”
While celebrating Gio Reyna’s goal, which gave the U.S. a two-goal advantage, U.S. Coach Gregg Berhalter was hit by debris.
Berhalter said: “That was unfortunate, because we wanted a really competitive match, we wanted a great environment but we didn’t want things thrown at our faces.” “It is unsafe and someone could get hurt.”
Last year’s semifinal at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas was stopped by Salvadoran referee Iván Barton in the eighth minute of a scheduled 12 minutes of stoppage time with the U.S. ahead 3-0.
The CONCACAF released a statement on the following day in which it “strongly condemned the discriminatory chanting of some fans,” saying that “it has no place in our sports.” The regional governing body didn’t appear to announce any disciplinary actions.
The Mexican Football Federation challenged FIFA’s financial penalties of 100,000 Swiss Francs ($114,000), imposed for incidents during two games at 2022 World Cup, in Qatar. FIFA imposed an initial fine of 50,000 Swiss francs with an additional 50,000 Swiss francs for a campaign to educate fans.
FIFA has repeatedly held the Mexican soccer association responsible for incidents during qualifying matches for World Cups in 2018 and 2022 and Olympic qualifying.
[ad_2]