CHESTER, Pa. — The president of CONCACAF said Saturday the referee in Wednesday’s contentious Gold Cup semifinal between Mexico and Panama acknowledged making mistakes during the game.
The regional soccer body did not say what those errors were. Mexico won 2-1 in Atlanta to reach Sunday’s title game against Jamaica.
Referee Mark Geiger “accepted that officiating errors had been made” and they “impacted the outcome,” CONCACAF President Alfredo Hawit said in a statement. Hawit added that “such human errors are part of the game.”
Panama was incensed by two particular calls. First, Geiger issued a disputed red card to Luis Tejada in the 25th minute. Panama still went ahead 1-0 despite playing with 10 men. But Geiger then called a hand ball when Roman Torres appeared to be fouled by a Mexican player and fell on the ball in the penalty area, leading to Andres Guardado’s penalty kick in second-half stoppage time.
Guardado won it with another penalty kick in extra time on a less debatable call.
The Panamanian team posed with a banner after the game calling CONCACAF “corruptos ladrones” (corrupt thieves), and Panamanian Football Federation President Pedro Chaluja told reporters Friday “we feel that that game was fixed.”
Panama and Costa Rica have formally asked for reviews of CONCACAF’S referee procedures, according to a person in the governing body with knowledge of the requests.
In the final minute of extra time in last Sunday’s quarterfinal, Mexico was awarded a questionable penalty kick with the game tied 0-0 and converted it to beat Costa Rica.
• Backup goalkeeper Luis Mejia saved two penalty kicks in the shootout, and an inspired Panama team ended a trying week with a medal, beating the United States in the Gold Cup third-place game at Chester, Pennsylvania.
Panama won the shootout 3-2 after extra time ended with the score 1-1. Mejia saved DaMarcus Beasley’s shot in the fifth round in what might have been the veteran defender’s last game for the national team.
It was another shaky performance by the Americans, who were stunned by Jamaica in the semifinals and had their worst Gold Cup finish since losing to Colombia, an invited guest, during a shootout in the 2000 quarterfinals.
Roberto Nurse scored for Panama in the 55th minute. Clint Dempsey evened the game in the 70th with his tournament-high seventh goal.
With the shootout tied 2-2 in the fourth round, Mejia saved captain Michael Bradley’s shot. Harold Cummings then beat Brad Guzan inside the left post to put the pressure on Beasley to keep the U.S. alive.
Panama was missing several key players because of injury or suspension, including its top goalkeeper. But it dominated play against a sluggish U.S. team, with an 11-2 edge in shots on goal in regulation.
WORLD CUP DRAW: The United States’ road to the 2018 World Cup opens in November with a four-nation group that includes Trinidad and Tobago.
Given a bye in the first three rounds along with the other powers of the North and Central American and Caribbean region, the U.S. was drawn into Group C for the fourth round, which will include Guatemala or Antigua and Barbuda, and Aruba or St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Seeking its eighth straight World Cup appearance, the Americans will start with a pair of games on Nov. 13 and 17. The qualifying round ends in September 2016, with the top two nations advancing to the final round, which will produce three qualifiers and a fourth-place team that meets Asia’s No. 5 team in a playoff.
n Reigning champion Germany received a relatively kind qualifying draw, but reaching the 2018 finals in Russia will be no easy task for some of Europe’s traditional powers.
Italy, the 2006 champion, paid the price for recent poor results by being drawn again into a group with 2010 winner Spain.
Spain ended Italy’s European Championship hopes in the 2008 and 2012 finals before they both embarrassingly exited the last World Cup in the group stage.
The heavyweight group is undoubtedly Group A. Either France, Sweden or the Netherlands, which finished third in the 2014 World Cup, will not be going to Russia.
There is only one automatic place from each of Europe’s nine groups. Eight of the best second-place teams from the continent’s nine groups will get a second shot at qualifying through a two-game playoff.
Germany’s strongest rival in qualifying will likely be the Czech Republic. The group also includes Northern Ireland, Norway, Azerbaijan, and San Marino.
For the first time in a World Cup qualifying draw, England and Scotland were paired together. The neighbors played the first international match 143 years ago.
MANCHESTER UNITED 3, BARCELONA 1: Wayne Rooney scored on a header in the eighth minute off Ashley Young’s corner kick, and Manchester United kept the pressure on all afternoon to beat Barcelona at Santa Clara, California, and stay unbeaten during its preseason tour in the United States.
Jesse Lingard added the Red Devils’ second goal on a cross by Tyler Blackett in the 65th minute, just two minutes after Manager Louis van Gaal subbed out his entire starting 11 to play the second team. Adnan Januzaj scored in the 90th minute, about 30 seconds after Rafinha got Barcelona on the board.
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