U.S. men's national team goalkeeper Tim Howard caused a stir following Saturday's Gold Cup final loss to Mexico when he lashed out at CONCACAF for the format of the post-game ceremonies at the Rose Bowl, which were held mostly in Spanish.
Howard's comments were a reaction to what Howard felt was a slight by CONCACAF of the host nation, and he was clearly upset during his post-match remarks.
“CONCACAF should be ashamed of themselves,” Howard said after Saturday's Gold Cup Final. “I think it’s a (freaking) disgrace that the entire post-match ceremony was in Spanish. You can bet your ass if we were in Mexico City it wouldn’t be all in English.”
On Tuesday, Howard released a statement clarifying his position:
“I made some comments after the Gold Cup Final that have caused some controversy. I would like to clarify a few points about my comments," Howard said. " First, I would like to apologize for my language. I am the father of young children, and I certainly do not believe profanity is appropriate in public comments. I was caught up in the heat of the moment."
"I also want to stress that I have no problem whatsoever with the use of the Spanish language at international competitions held in the US," Howard said. "I have nothing but great respect for other cultures, and in this case for the Mexican national team and its supporters. On that night, they played a great game and deserved their win. I play in international matches all the time, and multiple languages are used at almost all of them.
"The point I made, which I stand by, is that it is inappropriate and disrespectful for the post-match ceremonies to take place primarily in the language of only one of the participating teams," Howard said. "In any important international match with post-game ceremonies, you would hope the tournament organizers would make sure that the primary language of each participating team is used so that the participants can understand what is being said. To fail to do this is, in my opinion, disrespectful to the players. When this occurs on your home soil, it is particularly insulting.
"We, as American players, were asked to participate in a post-game ceremony at a match in Los Angeles and we are standing there trying to show good sportsmanship and yet the ceremony is going on and we are just looking at one another struggling to understand a word," Howard said. "It was, to be honest, humiliating, and I firmly believe the tournament organizers should not have put us in that position.”
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What do you think of Howard's comments? Agree with him? Think he should have kept quiet?
Share your thoughts below.
Tim’s comments before and after are legit.
Im sorry, I pressed one for english.
Tim Howard is an idiot, the ceremony was clearly in both english and spanish. You can watch the replay on the univision youtube channel.
but probably wasnt listening as he was trying to make up excuses for the loss.
or he couldnt hear the Fiore over his blubbering while crying
pues si quieres, podemos hablar en espanol, pero todo los gringos nomas hablan solo una idioma, y no todos muy bien.
murika murika!
Nope, it’s not
http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_lang.html
donde esta Latin? es el pais junto a caucasia y hispania?
coco pendejo
I was at the game with friends, proudly wearing a US jersey, expecting poor behavior from Mexican fans, but pleasantly surprised by how friendly they were. Sure there was plenty of good-natured pre-game trash talk but nothing truly malicious, and I never once felt threatened. Walked with the American Outlaws to the stadium shaking hands and high-fiving countless Mexican supporters and mostly just received smiles and heard “good luck.”
Sure, we got some beer on us after the fourth goal, but there was beer flying everywhere, and I don’t think it was directed at American fans. Maybe I just got lucky in having a positive experience. We left in the 90th minute, so I don’t know about the trophy ceremony.
Anyone estimating 75/25 fan support is nuts — it was at least 90% for Mexico, maybe more like 95%. But anyone complaining about the ratio who wasn’t at the game can STFU — why weren’t you there? I saw Mexican signs from Juarez, Guadalajara, the DF, Baja, Chicago, New York, etc. Like it or not, Mexicans support El Tri with a passion, and you have to respect that. In my opinion, the only way to “convert” these fans to the USA side is to keep beating Mexico — everyone loves a winner.
Notably, I saw several families and groups with both US and Mexican shirts together. I even saw couples where one person had on a US jersey and the other a Mexican one. Mexico will always be well-supported in SoCal, but the US fanbase is growing. I have several Mexican friends here in San Diego whose kids support the US and refuse to speak Spanish.
Anyway, I will never forget celebrating those first two goals with the handful of USA supporters sitting in the row next to and in front of us. Unfortunately our delirious celebration was to be short-lived. Mexico was the better team on the day with a better coach and deserved to win. Check out this excellent article from Mark Ziegler:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jun/28/six-ways-fix-american-soccer/
You accuse him of racism yet you are making fun of his disability. Stay classy…
I’ve heard my own brother make this argument (I’m also of Mexican descent) and I’ll tell you what I tell him: It’s our right, as Americans, to root for whatever team we choose to. If it were a war, go USA. In soccer, I love El Tri and many of my white friends are with me on this one.
If you’re surprised that not all Mexicans are uneducated and disrespectful enough to boo at the national anthem then you’re just as dumb as those who did.
I agree, let’s keep politics out of this conversation.
I’m an American of Mexican descent. I root for Mexico every time. However, I do believe English is our official language here and everyone who wants to live here should speak it. With that said, the biggest mistake was letting the broadcasters host the ceremonies because their English was limited. As with other international sports, there should’ve been an English announcement followed by Spanish translation. So really, it was a matter of sloppy organizing.
You sound like a nice, well-educated guy. I’m sorry to hear some jerks threw beer on you. But unlike most people on this blog, I’m glad you don’t rush to stereotypes and generalizations. I’ve been called beaner by white guys before, but I’ve always known groups like those don’t speak for all white people. All I can say is keep on truckin and don’t let the ignorant people get the best of you and bring you down to their level … No matter what side of the color spectrum they’re on.
Agreed. Let’s just admit the kid was upset because he was dominated and decided to do what other helpless people do, talk.
What language is the Constitution written in? Oh yeah they penned that second copy in Spanish.
Mexican fans were classless? But I imagine a statement like this is full of class, right?
+1 on Tim Howard’s comments. It was disrepectful and it shows the USMNT is not yet respected in CONCACAF even when the games are played in our very own soil. The disrespect is also shown by the officiating when the USMNT plays any teams south of the border.
The US “does not have an official language” is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. It is called English.
Mr. Howard, the team’s performance was humiliating. Not the post game ceremony.
Tim Howard may have lost his cool, but its true, in international competitions multiple languages is the norm.
I have been to USA-Mexico matches in Houston as a USA supporter with no Mexican roots and I can say honestly that 90% of the Mexican fans are normal fans who are quite amicable. I can tell yall many college football fans are much worse than anything I encountered there so after hearing so many bad things on these threads the USA-Mexico matches have been a nice surprise. I’m always amazed at how many people are carrying both Mexico and USA flags, its really a nice atmosphere.
My point of all this relating to Perndog is that he does not equate to the normal Mexico fan. nuff said about this troll
It would be wise for you to take your own advice.
wow, the equivalent of either “I know you are but what am I” or “I’m not touching you”
Bored now.
Man, this thread cracks me up. if you go to a US v Mexico match not expecting to get a little beer thrown on you, you are crazy in the first place. And if the US would have won, no one would be that upset about it.
Mexico was better on the night, it was a great game. Why does everyone have to bring all of these politics into it? Howard’s comments were understandable, but as a soccer player, I think he needs to keep those kind of comments to himself. Everyone who is american hears one thing, and everyone who is mexican hears another. Just try and keep the ball out of the net next time Mr. Howard, and you won’t have anything to complain about.
oh yes, there will be a next time.
Those fans are POS, not because they are Mexican, but because they are Californian. The were no problems with the Mexicans in Houston. Thats because the Tejanos respect this country.
are you enzo in disguise?
que onda perndog, te extranamos babi!
jaja
as a bi-ligual American first, Latino second, you are an embarrassment to me and our culture!
First, there is never any reason to boo during any national anthem – it is a matter of respect.
Second, the more you write, the less respect you are showing not only you, but every Latino. Remember what you represent. Fortunately, most know you are only representing yourself in your comments.
Third, Go USA! If I don’t like my freedom here, I can take my Latin >>> back to where my forefathers came from! I am excited that US soccer is getting the respect they deserve. Sure, there is a ways to go – but they will be a world-class team in the future. Maybe with mostly Latinos??? But only those that respect the country that we live in!!
And completely inaccurate, Brett.
Why do people keep repeating this? There IS an official language in California (and 22 other states). Just because our federal system makes passing a national language difficult does not diminish the value of what Howard said.
While the US does not have an “official” language, according to the constitution of California: “According to the California Constitution Article 3 State of California Sec. 6(b) English is the Official Language of California.”
But whatevs…
I feel myself getting more studip with each Perndog post I read.
Hey, armchair lawyer, you have no idea what you are talking about.
Nobody said you don’t have the right to do it. Atlanta said what you did was disgraceful. Which is true.
First of all stop calling him Timmy Tourettes, that is disrespectful. Second of all to accuse Tim of being racist is ridiculous, as you have no grounds whatsoever for doing so.
Enjoy your team’s win now,because I doubt that your team will win again on US soil in a long time.
You do pretty well with a language that you say is not a countries language. I believe you have provin our point; speeking ENGLISH in AMERICA is the AMERICAN WAY.
Guess that makes it OK, then!
This from someone and his fellow fans who take off thier Mex jerseys for U.S. jerseys when the U.S. wins.
RESPECT THE COUNTRY YOU LIVE IN!!!
It is said that you are stupid and make no sense, and will do so for many moons.
All the negative responses in the world to my posts are not going to help you recover from the fact that you made the most stupid, ignorant post on these boards today by far. You’re an idiot. Just accept it. OK?
You’re lying is that you are trying to say that because there was some English that everyone is lying, when you know full well that is not true. NO ONE said there was no English so knock it off.
You really should shut up. You are disgusting. All you did was describe yourself ahole.
You ought to know about ignorance. No one can hold a candle to you.
You can call them whatever you want, but yes they did.
Mexicans came from Spain. They are not native. There were no Spanish natives.
He’s got a point, but it ended up sounding like sour grapes. Nice to see a bit of passion after his subpar performance though.
Lol. If you think Tim Howard defamed CONCACAF by saying the whole ceremony was held in Spanish, then that implies you think there is something wrong with having the whole ceremony in Spanish.
It’s wrong, period. It’d be wrong even if it were Americans booing the national anthem of Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, etc.
Didn’t really notice any Mexicans in my section booing, which surprised me, because I kinda expected them to.
Any Mexicans that did boo, should be effin ashamed, because most of those “Mexicans” at that game are probably Americans, and they’re booing the national anthem of their own goddamn country.
I walk, talk, eat breathe America and American soccer. I live here, work here, vote here and pay taxes here. I was born and raised here. I have and always will support my country’s Mens National Soccer Team. America is not one single religion, race, ethnicity or language. We are everything mixed up together. That’s what makes America so diverse and wonderful. The US-Mexico rivalry will only make both teams better. Nothing is going to stop all of the Mexicans that live in this great country that we all share together from cheering for the country the got the hell out of.
I is are a uefa cup but the gold cup for mexico is good win for the champions we are. Hugito and everybody was saying how good and everybody vato you know because we are is a champions and now we go to the copa america because we will play with prostitutes and we are hugito is good he is a penta five time pichichi in the spain which is near the iraq but not that close to where hugito is bad he is good he just likes to talk about che volpe because perndog is a bad father.
I think that timmy howard should shut his pie hole because four goals he didn’t stop and english and spanish it doesn’t matter like the rock says i am real good to go to the gold cup champion and gios goal was good i want to smash belinda but i digress i think belinda is looking for attention maybe her and hugito can get together and look for attention together. cuatro a dos is a good score for the mexico because at first i was like damn dos a cero again but then i was like cuatro a dos trololol ha.