Panama and Costa Rica have formally asked for reviews of CONCACAF’S referee procedures after both nations had questionable calls go against them late in Gold Cup knockout-round games against regional power Mexico, according to a person in CONCACAF with knowledge of the requests.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity on Friday because he was not authorized to discuss the matter. CONCACAF had announced that the issue had been added for discussion to the agenda of yesterday’s executive committee meeting, but did not detail the requests.
In the final minute of extra-time in last weekend’s quarter-final, Mexico were awarded a penalty, with the game tied 0-0, which they converted to beat Costa Rica. Then in Wednesday’s semi-finals, Panama led 1-0 when they were penalized for a handball in the box. Mexico again converted in added-time, then went on to win in extra-time.
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The person said Panama requested investigations into the referee committee and its procedures, the people who assign referees to games, all unspecified “suspicious matches” and referee Mark Geiger.
In a separate letter, Costa Rica made similar requests. They also requested that certain referees not be assigned to their matches in the future.
CONCACAF said in a statement: “The confederation takes these claims extremely seriously and will look into them immediately.”
Earlier on Friday, Panamanian Football Federation president Pedro Chaluja told reporters: “We feel that that game was fixed. There are third parties with interests, and we know that it cannot be possible that the best-ranked referee in CONCACAF has such a poor and suspicious performance in a game.”
“We know that there have been suspicious and strange things going on in several matches in this Cup,” he added.
On Thursday, the federation demanded the removal of CONCACAF’s referee selection panel after describing the officiating in the loss as “insulting and embarrassing.” The statement also accused the match officials of favoring Mexico “in a vulgar and shameless way.”
Two Panama players — Luis Tejada and Jaime Penedo — were each suspended for two games by CONCACAF on Friday. Penedo was disciplined for pushing the assistant referee after Wednesday’s match. Tejada received a red card, then was punished additionally for not leaving the field “in a timely manner.”
The federation was also fined an undisclosed amount “for team misconduct both on and off the field.”
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