The U.S.-Mexico CONCACAF Nations League closing match was suspended within the late levels for the second straight 12 months due to homophobic chants by pro-Mexican followers.
Canadian referee Drew Fischer stopped play within the 88th minute of america’ 2-0 victory in Sunday evening’s closing, performed earlier than a crowd of 59,471 at AT&T Stadium.
Play resumed after a four-and-a-half-minute wait, and Fischer halted it once more six minutes into stoppage time. The play restarted one and a half minutes later, and the match was performed till the conclusion within the ninth minute of added time.
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Final 12 months’s semifinal at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas was stopped by Salvadoran referee Ivan Barton within the eighth minute of a scheduled 12 minutes of stoppage time with the U.S. forward 3-0.
CONCACAF issued a press release the following day that it “strongly condemns the discriminatory chanting by some followers,” which it mentioned “has no place in our sport.” The regional governing physique didn’t seem to announce any disciplinary motion.
The Mexican Soccer Federation final month challenged monetary penalties totalling 100,000 Swiss francs ($114,000) imposed by FIFA for incidents at two video games on the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. FIFA imposed a 50,000 Swiss franc effective with an extra 50,000 francs to be spent on a marketing campaign educating followers.
FIFA has repeatedly held the Mexican soccer federation accountable, handing out fines and shutting stadiums for video games after incidents in qualifying matches for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups and for Olympic qualifying.