CHESTER, Pa. (AP) – The president of CONCACAF said Saturday the referee in the Mexico-Panama game acknowledged making mistakes during the contentious Gold Cup semifinal.
The regional soccer body did not say what those errors were. Mexico won 2-1 on Wednesday 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.”
Geiger issued a disputed red card to Panama’s Luis Tejada in the 25th minute. He then called a penalty kick when Roman Torres fell on the ball in the area, leading to Andres Guardado’s tying goal in second-half stoppage time. Guardado won it with a 105th-minute penalty kick.
The Panamanian team held a banner calling CONCACAF “corruptos ladrones” (corrupt thieves), and Panamanian Football Federation President Pedro Chaluja said Friday “we feel that that game was fixed.”