CONCACAF is a strange wonderland of incompetence and alleged corruption. International fixtures in North America feature more blown calls, fights and unsafe conditions than top-level matches anywhere in the world. This is why the term “getting CONCACAF’d” exists. No one has ever said “you got UEFA’d.”
Fans have always said CONCACAF is corrupt, and now Panama agrees
The North American confederation is synonymous with unfair play. Panama isn’t taking it anymore.
Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
Accusing anyone of match-fixing is very serious and shouldn't be done without very strong evidence, but we can't gloss over the fact that thousands, if not millions, of fans think that Gold Cup and World Cup qualifying matches are regularly altered by people other than the match participants. It does not help that bad calls on the field and administrative decisions like playing a major competitive fixture in a blizzard usually benefit the United States and Mexico.
Almost all of the times that the angry mob screams “FIXED!!!” it’s just a simple case of referees being truly awful at their jobs, but it’s hard to blame the conspiracy theorists when people are getting indicted because the Gold Cup and Copa America Centenario are literally fraud.
CONCACAF’s second tier strikes back by forcing the United States and Mexico to train at crappy facilities, play on crappy fields, in stadiums with crappy locker rooms, and in extremely crappy weather conditions. In their minds, they’re not cheating -- they’re just doing what they can to level the playing field. This is a completely justifiable point of view.
This is how CONCACAF works, forever and ever, mostly unchallenged. USMNT opponents have goals disallowed for no reason, Mexico gets garbage last-minute penalties, and their rivals strike back by making them play on minefields in 120% humidity while fans throw bags of urine. The reaction to all of these things from fans, players and administrators alike is the same -- lol CONCACAF’d -- and everyone moves on with their lives.
Either Panama never got the memo or they’re just totally fed up with the system, because they’re not going along with this circus anymore. When Mark Geiger gave Mexico a phantom stoppage time penalty on Wednesday night, Panama kinda just logged off and walked towards the tunnel. Mexico subs didn’t like this and tried to fight them.
Panama players looking like they want to fight the referees, the Mexican fans & players. Wild scenes at @GeorgiaDome pic.twitter.com/RkelILJ0Ae
— Andrew Jerell Jones (@sluggahjells) July 23, 2015 Even if you didn’t see the game, you probably know the script. After a long delay, everyone walked back onto the pitch. Mexico scored. They got a penalty in extra time and scored that one too. They’re in the Gold Cup final and Panama have to play the third place game.
The players didn’t just blast the ref in interviews. They made a big banner that said “CONCACAF are corrupt thieves” and let themselves get photographed holding it up in the locker room.
Mensaje de los jugadores de Panamá @fepafut a @CONCACAF ¡Ladrones! ¡Corruptos! pic.twitter.com/rp8unSNipt
— Futbología (@futbologia) July 23, 2015 This is unlikely to be any kind of serious tipping point, but it’s certainly noteworthy that Panama aren’t taking this lying down. When most other teams would say “big teams get the big calls, what can you do” and move on, they’re going the extra mile and outright accusing the confederation of match fixing. They’ve been here before, they know the deal, and yet they’re still as outraged as a team would be if they had no idea what they were getting into.
"Getting CONCACAF'd" will live on for years, if not decades to come, but Panama's reaction was still something new and important. Between this and the FIFA scandal, the confederation now has an image problem with more than just a few thousand grouchy fans. Corruption is their brand, and teams are really tired of getting CONCACAF'd.
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