US referee brings shame to CONCACAF

WHEN THE winning team and their national supportive media cry foul over the refereeing of a football (soccer) game that propelled them into the finals of a major prestigious event, you know that something must have gone remarkably wrong.

Usually complaints of bad decisions come predictably from the manager of the losing team and disgruntled supporters whose cries from the stand of “shoot the ref” went unheeded.
But for millions watching the Concacaf Gold Cup semi-final between Mexico and Panama, unless they were subscribers to the perverted “winning is the only thing,” the result of the game Mexico 2 Panama 1 was daylight robbery under the arc lights on supposedly neutral soil.
The outrage in Panama has continued unabated for four days, with one Mexican restaurantshowing its disapproval by announcing it will not show the Mexico-Jamaica final on Sunday, and La Prensa has launched a national campaign calling for a clean up of Concacaf.
Approaches have also been made to FIFA for sanctions against the referee. The move may well pay off, as the world governing body already under the cloud of massive corruption allegations, including the former head of Concacaf, awaiting trial in the US, doesn’t want that final straw to break its already ailing back.
La Prensa summed up the feelings of many in a sports section opinion piece:
American referee Mark Geiger without any shame, helped the Mexicans to get their ticket to the final of the Gold Cup in a controversial match, described as a shame for world football, in which there were fights, red card, yellow cards and two penalties, one given as a gift, all in order to help Mexico beat Panama 2 goals to 1.
Panamanians finished the match with their heads held high. We cannot say the same about CONCACAF.
The Panamanian soccer team never backed down, even though after only 25-minutes Luis Tejada was ejected with a red card, the first of many injustices by Geiger in a match that had to be extended to extra time, thanks to a penalty given to the Mexican team just two minutes before the match was supposed to finish.
The refereeing absurdly bent toward Mexico, killing Panamanian aspirations, after showing that they are better than the Mexicans. Historically, Mexico have two defeats and two victories against the Panamanians, one by the referee in this game.
Hernan “el bolillo” Gómez, Panama’s coach, did not hesitate to criticize the refereeing that night, joining thousands of comments on social networks that did not agree with the way Mexicans won their ticket to the final.”
The reactions to the ‘unfair’ removal of Panama from the Gold Cup, do not stop. The Mexican press highlighted in its main sports sections the “help” that the Mexican team received to reach the final of the Cup.
“They give away another penalty to Mexico in the Gold Cup”; “Again the referees helped Mexico, with two penalties to get to the final”; “Panama deserved to win, but the ref gave Mexico the draw with a penalty”, were some of the headlines that Mexican media used to show their distaste.
The Panamanian Football Federation (FEPAFUT) raised its voice in protest against the result, which it classified as a stain on the sport, and demanded the resignation of the Arbitration Committee of CONCACAF. In the statement they required a prompt response to their petition, as what happened on Wednesday was the straw that broke the camel’s back of a “repetitive situation” that occurred since the first game of the team.
Sports are meant to be a way out of the dark side of society for the young and kids everywhere. We need to keep an eye on what’s going on in Football’s high levels because this can be sending a wrong message to our youth, especially in our country which is overburdened with corruption scandals. Authorities should keep pushing CONCACAF to suspend the American referee from the most beautiful sport in the world.