Photo by Jason Getz / USA Today Sports
By RYAN TOLMICH
Mexico is bound for Sunday’s Gold Cup final, but, according to CONCACAF president Alfredo Hawit, the way in which they got there was far from correct.
Hawit released a statement on Saturday regarding the officiating decisions made in Wednesday night’s Gold Cup semifinal between Mexico and Panama, a game that ended as a 2-1 win for El Tri.
Down a goal late, Mexico was controversially awarded a penalty just moments from the final whistle, causing a mass scrum as Panama players and coaches complained to referee Mark Geiger.Hawit admitted Wednesday that Panama’s complaints were somewhat justified as the CONCACAF president believes that Geiger’s call was not the right decision.
“We met with both the Referee Department leadership and referee Mark Geiger,” Hawit said in a statement. “Mr. Geiger, one of the best regarded referees in the region with vast international experience and a proven track record, accepted that officiating errors had been made during Wednesday’s match and that these impacted the outcome of the game.
“We at CONCACAF regret these circumstances but accept that such human errors are part of the game.”
Hawitt’s statement comes just one day after the Panamanian Football Federation was fined an undisclosed amount for team misconduct both on and off the field. In addition, goalkeeper Jaime Penedo earned a two-match ban for pushing an assistant referee, while Luis Tejada also earned two-match ban, one match for the red card and one for failing to leave the field in a timely manner.
Mexico head coach Miguel Herrera and U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder Michael Bradley were also fined for “infractions of the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2015 Media Regulations for Participating Member Associations”.
The Gold Cup continues Saturday for the competition’s third-place match with the USMNT taking on Panama, while the tournament concludes with Sunday’s finale pitting Mexico against Jamaica.
What do you think of Hawit’s comments? What did you think of Geiger’s call?
Share your thoughts below.
It’s not just CONCACAF games, I’ve seen Mark Geiger ruin MLS games too with his quick red cards and bad calls
No question, he has a reputation for what some call the “Geiger Show”. As he makes himself the center of the match.
They seem very distant from reality, President Alfredo Hawitt CONCACAF live without values, without ethics, without honor. As this man sees his children so trash behind the organization he heads, their ancestors in their graves will say this is our next generations full of personal interests that fall under our name. OK theft openly justify it is decadent, it leaves a lot to say and sing the tango as follows Agustin Inzulsa Cabalache the same in the 21st century.
He has looked shaky in some of his MLS games over the past few seasons – strange cards, loses control. I have full confidence that he is not corrupt, no one influenced his horrible calls in the PAN/MEX game – he just blew it. Over and over,… There should be some type of punishment for making such a mess of a game
What is an appropriate punishment for a referee who will likely fail his assessment for a semi-final match in a regional tournament final? For CONCACAF this is the tournament that is second only to the World Cup in importance.
Above my pay grade… I don’t even know if the Pro organization has any type of framework that allows it. But, imho, this can’t be glossed over. His shift has been widely criticized, even Pro said there were issues. Not saying tar and feather, but something – take him off the international list for the rest of this year, and maybe even 2016 – that would be fair.
His performance was beyond bad (not corrupt), just awful.
I wonder if Geiger has had problems in US Open games? Usually those end up with some real problems too.
I wonder what would have happened if it was MG’s pad that Duece ripped up…
I look forward to verbally abusing Geiger the next time I see him. There has to be some checks and balances to being a corrupt ref and taking loads of crap from fans is one of them.
People defending him because he did 3 world cup games are a joke. He got to the WC because CONCACAF recommended him. They recommended him because he is a company boy.
Isn’t that how you get ahead in the world? You are generally competent, you get along with others and you show up on time.
Yep, and when you blow it (badly), there are usually consequences.
ha u “punny”
Perhaps it depends on which organization I am going along to get along within doesn’t it? When it is an entity that is PROVEN, and widely KNOWN to be rotten and corrupt through and through, not so sure getting along is the moral thing to do. Sometimes “getting ahead in the world” ought not be the primary objective. Which begs the question of myself…. is my love of a GAME and entertainment so important that I am willing to overlook the underlying greed and corruption driving it? Probably the most democratic influence we each have is the open market… the vote we cast with where and to whom we send our dollars. I’m really questioning whether or not continuing to support international soccer is the right thing to do until MAJOR changes are made.
Alfredo Hawit needs to resign.
Sure, play dumb…
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Off topic, but both the U.S. and Mexico got pretty sweet draws for the 4th round of CONCACAF WCQ. Group B, though: likely to be Costa Rica, Panama, Jamaica, and Haiti. Things change and World Cup qualifying is a whole different animal, but after this Gold Cup, that could be a blood bath.
This round of qualifying usually looks pretty easy. The US has a potential trips to some nice Caribbean destinations. Trinidad, Aruba, St. Vincent’s, Antigua. I may have to start playing the lottery and update my passport.
Anyone know what Bradley and/or Herrera said/did to receive their fines? I cannot seem to find anything that states what was actually done besides the “infractions of the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2015 Media Regulations for Participating Member associations”
This is only relevant because it was in favor of Mexico. No one complained when Hounduras was given a PK against Mexico or when a few PKs were not given to Mexico at azteca during last qualifiers. Worst than Mexico not making it to the gold cup final is not making it to the world cup and no help was given then except by the US. No doubt the “home” team was helped this time but it should be news every time it happens not just in favor of Mexico. Reminds me of reverse discrimination.
Soccer needs technology and needs to remove “intent” form a handball. You can’t rely on refs making that decision. Every handball should be penalized; soccer players are smart and sometimes very good actors.
Start punishing home countries like Mexico and and Central American countries for their fans behavior.
CONCACAF and the venues needed to step it up too in regard to fans throwing debris. They knew “Mexican” fans threw things onto the field against T&T. The venue needed to have appropriate security and cameras ready to identify fans and remove them from the venue when they started to throw things in the Panama game.
I also agree that CONCACAF needs to send a message to the fans via the country associations by barring attendance at home games, which is the only way to enforce a sanction. That way fans in the future may possible self regulate behavior.
I’ve always thought that handling is misclassified. So, if you’re going to remove intent from the handling offense, you need to reduce handling to IFK offense. Everything that’s a DFK is safety related player-on-player. IFK-penalized offenses are technical offenses – six seconds, passbacks, things like that. Handling the ball or being struck in the arm with it should be one of those if you’re not going to consider the deliberateness of it.
If you remove the intent, and make handling a IFK – what do you do when Suarez deliberately uses his hands to stop a goal at the end of a WC quarter-final? You don’t get a red card for deliberately being offside, or a gk holding onto a ball for longer than 6 seconds.
You show Suarez a red and restart with an IFK from six.
It is rarely (ok.. almost never) seen, but DOGSO-F applies to anything that’s punished by a free kick (DFK or IFK) or penalty kick. So while you’d never see one for offside (trying to imagine how you would even break up a DOGSO by being offside), or six seconds, you could see one for a second touching, a passback, PIADM, or obstruction. Just because PIADM and obstruction aren’t ever called at – well – anything above U16, and passbacks and second touches don’t happen doesn’t mean you can’t get sent off for it if you DOGSO by doing it.
It’s weird as hell, but that is the way the laws are written.
Or maybe you keep DH as DFK/PK – with an extremely heightened and brightened line for what is deliberate – and make non-DH an IFK.
But that would probably just probably create another point of argument.
You raise a good point, unintentionally. That infraction called on Guzan should have been an IFK. They should change that rule as it was very technical and his violation gave no real benefit to the offending player/team. As a matter of fact, if you remember, it was a poor distribution that was taken by a Jamaican player about 35 to 40 yards from the US goal who then proceeded to attack until he heard the whistle. Had it been a regular foul, the ref could have played advantage.
It is a regular foul and the ref could have played advantage. He just chose not to.
Captain Mike caps off a great tournament. Who’s next in line for the armband?
I despise hearing these excuses “we accept human error is part of the game.” There is the tech to solve at least half of these errors with minimal impact to the games flow. The solutions are numerous but if the sport doesn’t even open the door for expiramentation then the BS excuses will keep coming.
All the technology in the world won’t stop corrupt officials like Geiger. Errors are inevitable, corruption is not.
What evidence do you have that Geiger is a corrupt ref? That he made a bad call? Then every ref, every where in every league is corrupt.
Occam’s Razor – Probably not corrupt, just had one of the worst games officiating in modern times.
I can think of worse calls in bigger stages:
1) Scottish ref showing 3 yellow cards to same player in WC
2) english ref failing to send off Netherlands player for studs in thigh jab against Xavi Alonso in first half of WC final
3) Asian WC playoff- ref allowing pk to be retaken 3 times
Concur. Could even think of a few more.. That’s why I said “one of the worst”.
That game is a horrendous stain on our sport. The casual observers will use it to justify not paying more attention if they feel the outcome was predetermined. Hate to say this, but Geiger really needs to be thrown under the bus
I’d include Dr. Marcus Merk calling the penalty on Gooch while he was just standing there waiting for a high ball to come down while the attacker ran into him. That won the game for Ghana. At least Geiger manned up and admitted he screwed up. That is better than 99% of refs who shut up and just hope the issue blows away. He is usually a very good ref.
Agree that MG is usually pretty good. I recall the Spain/Chile game last summer – he represented very well in that game (and others).
Are there actual quotes from MG about his performance, or just what Hawit said, “accepted that officiating errors had been made during Wednesday’s match and that these impacted the outcome of the game.”
I agree on your video comment. Once the play is stopped, tv viewers see a replay fairly quickly. Why can’t there be a discussion between the on field ref – who may not have had the best view or angle and a match official in a booth. It may not change the opinion, but at least a discussion could avoid a real s–t-storm
How can you go alone with fines or judge misconduct….then admit to the ref making a mistake. Wow….Its like saying “we screwed you and going to punish you for being upset” wow
Ey!
And it took 11 minutes for the game to resume,and the penalty kick to be taken as tempers flared and angry words were exchanged.
Like in the NFL – scoring plays, (and/or in this case penalty calls) that happen in the last minutes of a game should be automatically reviewed in the video replay booth.
Period!
It would have taken 3-4 minutes, max – one commercial break, or less time to have the officials in the replay booth wave off that penalty. There was NO INTENT on the part of the Panamanian player, moreover he was shirt-tug-hauled-down by the Mexican player who shouold have been whistled for a foul. The Pamanian fulback did not even see the ball until he fell on it. There was no intent to handle the ball, his arm was instinctively extended to break his fall, not reach for the ball.
Panama was robbed.
No one mentions the point during the play where Torres threw his arms in the air and it looked like he was going to grab or bat the ball away, then tried to take his arms away from the ball. If Geiger saw that, he has seen a player in a vulnerable position falling down, make an effort to grab the ball with his hands, then as he falls down, he lays on the ball, looking like every player does when trying to get the ref to call a trip in his favor.
I am not saying that Geiger made the right call . . . he didn’t. I am saying cut down on the hyperbole that Geiger is a crooked ref.
I agree with your point, however, the call didn’t exist in a vacuum. It was the 89th minute, I think, and there was a completely unjustified red card early in the game. Common sense is not so common, apparently. And if it exists with Geiger, then he was influenced by external factors.
So Geiger is not supposed to call what he thinks is a penalty because he may have given a bad red card earlier in the game?
Lets say he reviewed the play at half-time. He sees that he only gave the Mexico player a yellow, and that the Panama red, probably wasn’t a red. He is then looking out for other elbows on headers – not trying to avoid a penalty.
Your explanation is apples to oranges to me.
In your last two posts you’ve said that:
a) The RC “probably wasn’t a red”
b) That MG didn’t make the “right call” on the 1st PK
Yet you’re still defending him. Not saying throw the baby out with the bath water, but we should be taking about some type of punishment for MG. Not sure if the Pro framework even has such, but it should be discussed.
I am defending MG from comments that he is corrupt and/or on the take.
I am not defending MG from comments that he made a bad call.
I would imagine that MG will NOT be the center ref in a few upcoming qualifiers and will be the 4th official instead
That is exactly the point. These guys are professionals – or supposed to be. This isn’t a sunday afternoon game where you expect a fight to break out.
Smh. I hope Jamaica wins.
I am rooting for Jamaica as well. Still, there’s something unsettling about why these results matter so much to us. I don’t know – just struggling with a few things. It seems referees were always part of the game, and people as a whole accepted that. Life wasn’t fair, and people accepted that better then than they do now. Granted, if technology now can be used to make games and results more fair without disrupting the flow of the game, that’s a hard thing to argue against.
Whatever personal moral codes people have – what is it in these games that makes their results more important? Lasers aimed at players, projectiles aimed at anyone on the field, physical threats to referees from players and fans… Like I said, I’m struggling with a few things, but I don’t remember the game being viewed with the same paramount importance which people seem to view it now. It always (for as long as I’ve been watching) mattered to people – don’t get me wrong. But losses, even ones perceived as completely unfair, didn’t seem to have the same impact.
Because technology has amplified the projections of opinions does not mean human emotion has changed. The “Immaculate Reception” mattered to a lot of people 43 years ago.
There is a reason instant replay is not used for pass interference calls in football games. Penalties in soccer to some degree will always be subjective. Balls going over the goal line are not subjective.
I was in Pittsburgh for the Immaculate Reception. It absolutely mattered to a lot of people. But if it had been called an illegal reception (basically a question of whether the ball bounced off the receiver or the defender before Franco scooped up the deflection), it wouldn’t have driven Steelers fans this crazy. Life would have gone on if the Steelers lost that game. People are acting here like the referee is St. Peter deciding who gets inside the Pearly Gates, instead of deciding who wins a game.
Ideally, of course, the teams decide who wins the game. But there are times when the referee decides – the referee who declared the Immaculate Reception legal decided the outcome, in favor of Pittsburgh over Oakland. And sometimes he decides badly. It’s still just a game. Many Oakland fans were sure it was an illegal reception. But that was a different time – they suspected it wasn’t fair, and that was just accepted.
This CONCACAF game seemed like it was kind of important to a lot of people.
“The Football War (Spanish: La guerra del fútbol), also known as the Soccer War or 100 Hour War, was a brief war fought by El Salvador and Honduras in 1969. The cause of the war was economic in nature, namely issues concerning immigration from El Salvador to Honduras.[1] These existing tensions between the two countries coincided with rioting during a 1970 FIFA World Cup qualifier.”
“Lasers aimed at players, projectiles aimed at anyone on the field, physical threats to referees from players and fans…”
Not saying it’s right, but Projectiles (batteries, bags of piss, drinks, bananas, etc….), and threats to referees have been a part of soccer for decades across the globe. We’ve not seen much of this kind of behavior on US soil….but if you look at which teams have been involved in these instances during this Gold Cup you can draw your own conclusion as to who the perpetrators are. Lasers are a more recent development (maybe 10-15 years) but this is hardly the first time that fans have used this tactic (especially against Goal Keepers).
Until there are real punishments handed down (heavy fines, games behind closed doors, Loss of points in qualifiers, etc….) I don’t see this kind of behavior changing anytime soon.
As for those wanting some form of technology to assist the referees during the match….please remember that anything that FIFA implements must be used by all 200+ nations hosting FIFA events (be it WC Qualifiers or regional tournaments). Many nations cannot afford, maintain, or operate the technology that would be most effective and least disruptive to matches. Hell Goal-Line technology was just implemented in the last World Cup when similar tech has been used in other sports for nearly 15 years.
The passionate caring is a new phenomenon in the US, but it has been around in the rest of the world for quite some time. Why do people care so much about sports? I imagine some sociologist has written a book about that, so I will leave me theories alone and just point out that in the US I think this is a result of increased interest and popularity of the sport. Also, whenever you have national teams involved, that whole nationalism, love of country issue heightens and intensifies fan involvement. As someone who cares a lot about soccer and about politics, I wish people had as much interest in how governments were run. Because, all in all, this is only a game here. It doesn’t affect war and peace or who gets what in society. As much as I enjoy the beautiful game, it is only a game and we should all keep that in mind. 50 years from now people won’t care who won the Gold Cup, but the wars in the Middle East may still be affecting them. We are still feeling the affects of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919.
INSTANT REPLAY…
if i ever stop watching soccer, this is why.
Because of “human error”? What sport will you watch?
No, probably because CONCACAF is a dirty organization that cares only for money and doesn’t give a damn about the integrity of the sport or it’s fans.
Gold Cup in the US – best possible venues, safest travel destination, best way to make legitimate money. Where else would you host it? Are you going to hold it in. . . I don’t know – Honduras?
US Ref – participated in 3 games in the last World Cup. He had a bad game. Panama are not exactly choir boys on the field.
It’s the back to back dubious last minute penalties for Mexico, coupled with the fact that it makes more money for Concacaf is Mexico is in the final and even more if Mexico wins the Gold Cup and they host a playoff against the US. It’s understandable why people would be suspicious.
So, if I understand the theory: an American ref who reffed 3 games at the last World Cup – more than any other US ref before) purposefully called a last minute penalty to help Mexico because CONCACAF wants a play-off; and in the game before an American AR (Borgia – who was on the call list as an AR if anyone dropped out of the last World Cup) called a penalty to help Mexico advance from the quarterfinal; again, because CONCACAF, who is in a heap of trouble already with the US government with the FBI breathing down its neck for bribery, RICO and tax evasion charges, wants a 1 game playoff.
I think that’s the working theory, but when you put it like that…
The only thing that’s odder was people trying to explain that any of MG’s controversial calls were correct. He had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
Dr. Joe on Fox said he felt that the red card was correct and the second pk was correct. Still said Geiger fails because the first pk was a game changer and wrong.
I don’t believe the red card was correct.
The second PK was easily correct, if you miss the offside just before it, but that is the AR’s call.
Tejada’s red was tool all the way. Open hand, no force. It slides to the forearm, but it’s just not an EF strike for SFP. I find it an especially odd call when considered in light of the standard he set with the 3′ caution to Vela. I know it would have gone down as VC (ball out-of-play at the time) if he’d chosen to show red, but it had everything you look for when looking for a SFP/VC elbowing – except it was to the ribs. It was still an elbow strike.
I can only assume that, due to it being a quick counter attempt, MG was out of position to actually make that call and thought he saw and EF strike for SFP. Good acting, but that’s not what happened.
You’re trying to make this into some outlandish conspiracy.
There’s billions of dollars invested in Mexico’s regional success. The whole of CONCACAF is provenly corrupt, with the corruption pointing to higher levels of authority then Chuck Blazer or Jack Warner.
Is it really so hard to believe that an American can’t manipulate a game like countless others do around the world?
in other words, Mexico’s place in the final is not legit
A sport that recognizes “human error” is a flaw to correct and reduce to the greatest extent possible, not a selling point. So literally any other major team sport.
True enough. I have always been a fan of the sport but when I started viewing the entire soccer landscape as a reality show my appreciation for soccer soared! It never gets dull and it never gets old!
I’m with you NTFG. I watched both Mexico vs Panama, and Mexico vs Costa Rica. The investment of time into the games, just to see their outcomes determined by officiating, enrages me and without a doubt doesn’t reinforce any desire to watch any more games. I feel for Panama, especially, because they were the better team vs Mexico, with 10 men!
The worst part for me is that Panama scored a great goal AFTER going down a man. They deserved to win. Unfortunately, many times in soccer, the team that deserves to win, does not. The boys from Panama should get a good reception when they return home.
My opinion is that CONCACAF should fine Panama for failing to control its team. . . and then Panama should appeal; and at that point, CONCACAF should lift any fine, ban or sanction because of the bad error(s) by Geiger in this game.
Of course that would be your opinion – circle the wagons… This game was solely decided by the center ref, that should never happen – this is much more that just “the team that deserves to win, does not”.
Following one of my favorite principals ,Occam’s Razor- what was more likely, Geiger being on the take, or did he just have a bad game? That’s easy, he had a bad game – one of serious consequences. He should have to serve some type of international ban for turning in that poor performance.
Why are you criticizing me for basically having the same position – that Geiger had a bad game. He did.
I am not saying Geiger shouldn’t be sanctioned. Never did; don’t think I even implied that in my response.
I am trying to tone down the comments that the Gold Cup is fixed because American refs have awarded pks to Mexico. I think the conspiracy theories fail at the first hurdle.