The American and former World Cup referee, Mark Geiger, would ultimately hand out a first-half red card, 11 yellow cards, and two controversial penalties in Mexico’s favor while he allowed the match to descend into chaotic scenes.
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Mexico was awarded another spot kick in extra time, leading to the eventual game-winning goal. “We demand quick answers”.
Mexico manager Miguel Herrera is happy with the his side are going in attack but he is sweating on the fitness of Giovani dos Santos ahead of their semi-final tie after failing a late fitness test before the Costa Rica game.
While the Panamanians dwell on the soreness of their defeat, the refereeing in the region has to be addressed by CONCACAF, and if the game is to receive the worldwide recognition that they are after then actions need to be taken to improve not just the levels of football being played, but also those officiating it.
Coming into the Gold Cup, this game could easily have been the predicted Gold Cup final as they would not have played until the final had each team won the group.
A lot of US soccer fans on Twitter didn’t believe him when he said it, assuming he was just being respectful.
Panama’s frustration was again evident after conceding via another penalty, and more scenes of discontent were on show – Gomez’s side taking their time to regather before the re-start. Another will be the presence of Mexico and its devoted fan base.
Still, Perez redeemed himself during the penalty shootout, as he converted his PK to keep Panama’s Gold Cup dreams alive. This is their 3rd straight 1-0 victory in the Gold Cup.
The final will be held in Philadelphia on Sunday.
However, against Mexico in the final match, they had their backs against the wall as they saw themselves down multiple times in th game.
With the first semifinal pairing arranged, it fell to Day Eleven to sort out which two countries would be joining the U.S. and Jamaica in the next stage of the Gold Cup. Tejada certainly made contact with Francisco “Maza” Rodriguez’s face as he jumped for the ball, but the contact was with his forearm, not his elbow, and there looked little evidence that he swung it in a risky manner. Torres was in position to intercept a corner kick from Erick Davis in front of the goal, and his header to the ground bounced past goal keeper Guillermo Ochoa.
The first goal came in the 56th minute from Panama when, down a man, Roman Torres put a head on the ball to give them an improbable lead.
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With Mexico reprieved and Panama believing they had seen their dreams stolen away, El Tri were the stronger team in extra time. After the final whistle sounded nearly the entire Panama squad swarmed Geiger who needed security to help him to the Georgia Dome locker rooms. In the meantime, debris rained down from the stands, benches cleared and players pushed and shoved.
