Last night I watched with joy as the US Men’s National Team continued their dominance over Mexico to win the CONCACAF Nation’s League final. Today we should be talking about how great it was to see Tyler Adams score a screamer of a goal after missing months due to injury. We should be talking about the great tournament that Gio Reyna had. Or the great tournament that Matt Turner had. Unfortunately, I feel like that has been overshadowed by the behavior of the Mexican fans that caused the game to be temporarily halted late in the match. This has been an issue that FIFA has been trying to resolve for years to no avail. How does CONCACAF move forward to get this issue under control? Hopefully by asking questions we can find an answer.
What Happened?
This final match had the makings of a classic as the USMNT played against their rivals from the south. This has become a rivalry that has seen the US come out on top for 5 years now. I feel that the first real sign of a problem came after Gio Reyna scored in the 63rd minute to put the US up 2-0. The players went to celebrate their goal and Mexican fans appeared to throw whatever they could get a hold of at the US players. I get being frustrated by losing to your rival, but you have to act in a respectable fashion. That was not it.
The issue seemed to escalate more after that as the Mexican fans began using a homophobic chant targeted at Matt Turner whenever he kicked the ball away on goal kicks. This led to Canadian referee Drew Fisher to halt play in the 88th minute while an announcement came on in the stadium discouraging people from using the chant. I applaud the Mexican players on the field as they appeared to appeal to the fans to stop using the chant. Unfortunately, their appeals fell on deaf ears and the fans continued to use the chant.
According to FIFA protocol, this halt in play is to try to allow for time for the fans to calm down. If the match gets halted more than once, the refs can choose to abandon the match. The refs allowed this match to end, which hasn’t always happened in the past. I feel like this protocol can help the fans feel emboldened. If the match isn’t going their way, the can use the chant to get the match to end early. This isn’t fair to players on either squad as they train their lives to play on a stage this big.
Brief History Of The Chant
This chant seems to have appeared among Mexican fans during the early 2000s. Fans chant it at an opposing goalkeeper to try to intimidate them as they go to kick the ball into play. Some Mexican fans argue that the word used has many different cultural meanings. The fact of the matter is that the word used in the chant is a derogatory term that is demeaning to the LGBTQ community. This term has no such place in the sports world, or even in life at all. Anti-discrimination groups have teamed up with FIFA to make that point known.
Has Mexico Faced Punishment For Fans Using The Chant?
In 2021, FIFA levied $65,000 for the chant. According to this report, Mexico was forced to play some of the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup without fans in the stands. Furthermore, FIFA imposed financial sanctions on the Mexican federation for similar issues during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. FIFA, who oversees CONCACAF, issues sanctions equalling $114,000. Half of those sanctions were targeted on an education program for the fans to help them learn that using the chant is not acceptable. Unfortunately, this hasn’t worked and Mexico appealed the FIFA decision earlier this year.
If not having fans at matches and fines weren’t enough, Mexico has also faced early ends to matches due to the chant. In 2023, a match between Mexico and the US was cut short due to fans using the chant. I would expect to see the Mexican soccer federation to see similar sanctions following last night’s incident.
Why Does This Affect The 2026 World Cup?
In my opinion, this is an issue that CONCACAF and FIFA need to work on resolving before the 2026 World Cup. Mexico has been given the honor of being a host country of the tournament along with the USA and Canada. It would be a black mark on the CONCACAF federation and FIFA if matches had to be abandoned during the tournament due to unruly fan behavior. The World Cup is supposed to be a time to come together and celebrate the highest level of competition between nations that qualify. If this behavior happens during that tournament, I feel like it would take the Mexican federation quite a long time to recover from.
What Is Mexico Doing About The Chant?
According to an article on Goal.com, the Mexican federation has promised to hand out 5 year bans to fans using the chant. This policy has been in affect for 2 years now and seems to have done little to deter fans from using the chant. More recently, the federation has worked to use public announcements to deter fans from using the chant. These public announcements have included appearances from the players pleading with fans to not use it. CONCACAF and FIFA have implemented a protocol as mentioned earlier. The protocol, according to MSN, is as follows:
- Step 1: Match stoppage and warning to fans.
- Step 2: Match suspension and players moved to benches.
- Step 3: Abandonment of the match.
This policies have not worked so far and now it seems like FIFA needs to step up the pressure.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Trying to find a good solution to this problem is no easy task. I have seen people offer some interesting suggestions on social media. I have also had some good conversations with my partner about how to find a solution. One solution I saw someone suggest was to disqualify Mexico from upcoming tournaments. This solution seems a bit excessively harsh and unfair towards the Mexican players. Why should the players be punished for unruly behavior by the fans? Maybe there is some version of that solution that could be a bit less harsh.
Another solution is to have more matches where fans are not allowed. This seems like a good solution, but it doesn’t appear to have worked too well in the past. This could also dissuade countries and stadiums not want to have “friendly” matches against Mexico as the stadiums would lose money with no fans in attendance. Another solution to this problem could be to levy even larger fines to the Mexican federation. Sometimes in order to make your point, you have to hit the perpetrator in the pocket book. The tricky part with that is that the Mexican federation is not the perpetrator.
This is a problem that needs to be addressed before 2026. It’s clear that there is now easy answer to this problem. FIFA, CONCACAF and the Mexican federation must work together to find a solution to this problem. If not, Mexico could face massive embarrassment during the World Cup.
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