Miami (Friday, July 24, 2015) – The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) announced today that its Gold Cup Disciplinary Committee has levied fines and sanctions in cases involving the Panamanian national team, players from Panama and the United States, and the Head Coach of Mexico.

Following a thorough review of the official match report and video footage from the Gold Cup 2015 semifinal match disputed between Panama and Mexico, in Atlanta on Wednesday evening, the Panamanian Football Federation was fined an undisclosed amount for team misconduct both on and off the field.

Additionally, Panamanian player Jaime Penedo was suspended two matches for pushing the assistant referee following the conclusion of the match. The first game of the suspension will be served for Saturday’s Gold Cup 2015 third place match, and the second game for Panama’s next official senior national team game. Fellow Panamanian player Luis Tejada was also sanctioned with a two-match ban, one match for the red card received in the semifinal match and an additional match for failing to leave the field in a timely manner following the ejection.

The Gold Cup Disciplinary Committee also levied fines of undisclosed amounts on Mexican national team Head Coach Miguel Herrera and United States player Michael Bradley, for infractions of the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2015 Media Regulations for Participating Member Associations.

The CONCACAF Gold Cup 2015 concludes this weekend in Philadelphia, when the United States takes on Panama in the third-place match at PPL Park on Saturday afternoon, followed by the Grand Final Sunday evening at Lincoln Financial Field, featuring Jamaica and Mexico.

Related:

CONCACAF Statement regarding official requests from Costa Rica Football Federation and Panama Football Federation

“CONCACAF has received the official requests from the Panamanian Football Federation and Costa Rican Football Federation and will review them carefully. The confederation takes these claims extremely seriously and will look into them immediately. As a first step toward addressing the request, this matter has been added to the agenda of tomorrow’s CONCACAF Executive Committee meeting for
discussion.”

UPDATED: CONCACAF President Alfredo Hawit statement regarding the officiating of the Gold Cup 2015 semifinal match between Mexico and Panama:

We met with both the Referee Department leadership and referee Mark Geiger. Mr. Geiger, one of the best regarded referees in the region with vast international experience and a proven track record, accepted that officiating errors had been made during Wednesday’s match and that these impacted the outcome of the game.

We at CONCACAF regret these circumstances but accept that such human errors are part of the game.

Costa Rica football federation requests overhaul of CONCACAF officiating

By Michael Krumholtz From The Tico Times

Costa Rican football officials sent a letter to CONCACAF’s Executive Committee President Alfredo Hawit Thursday night asking that every member of the association’s referee committee be fired. The football federation also listed the names of five officials, including Walter López, who called the suspect penalty on Roy Miller in the loss to Mexico, that it requests never be assigned to a Costa Rican match again.

Secretary General Rafael Vargas Brenes signed off on the letter that reads as a list of indictments against CONCACAF officiating, citing examples of improper refereeing from as far back as 2011.

“We consider that Costa Rica has been directly affected by the poor work of the officials and we present as evidence, an analysis of the irregularities that occurred in our national team’s games, in search of a clear and conclusive response on the part of your Executive Committee,” the letter reads.

As international football remains clouded by allegations of corruption within its highest governing body, two officiating controversies in four days at the Gold Cup have cast even more doubt over the sport’s integrity.

One high-ranking official at Costa Rica’s Football Federation (FEDEFUTBOL) said he’s had enough and wants the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) to restructure it’s referee committee.

The request follows questionable calls in Mexico’s favor throughout the Gold Cup tournament, namely a 121st minute yellow card in Sunday’s match against Costa Rica and Wednesday night’s debacle in which referees awarded a pair of penalty kicks to Mexico in its 2-1 win over Panama.

“The damage this has done to football at the world level and at the level of CONCACAF is going to take many years to repair,” FEDEFUTBOL treasurer Rodolfo Villalobos told television reporters on Thursday afternoon. “But now is the time to begin this reparation process.”

IMAGE: The Costa Rican Football Federation is set to send an official complaint to CONCACAF’s referee committee after a series of questionable penalties in the Gold Cup. AFP

For more on this story and video go to: http://www.ticotimes.net/2015/07/23/costa-rican-football-federation-requests-overhaul-concacaf-officiating

Mexico game at Gold Cup was fixed, says Panama FA chief Pedro Chaluja

From ESPN

Panama Football Federation president Pedro Chaluja believes his side’s controversial 2-1 loss to Mexico was fixed, and has called on FIFA and CONCACAF to examine possible match-fixing at the Gold Cup.

Chaluja said Costa Rica joined Panama’s petition to ask FIFA’s regional governing body to investigate, and said they had the support of interim CONCACAF president Alfredo Hawit.

“Their president, Hawit, has expressed his support for us,” Chaluja said in a news conference. “It is not just Panama asking for an investigation, it is Costa Rica as well.”

Panama had already gone down to 10 men following a debatable red card but were leading 1-0 when Mexico were awarded a penalty in the 88th minute of their semifinal on Wednesday. Mexico later won in extra time.

It was the second straight game that Mexico were awarded a penalty in the final moments of the game, after also getting a call in stoppage time of extra time that led to the winner against Costa Rica in the quarterfinals.

“Sadly, we share the disillusion of having to call attention to the poor refereeing decisions that were deliberate and motivated by an intention to protect third parties,” Chaluja said. “It is our perception that this match was fixed and not by the Mexican Football Federation but rather by others.

“These occurrences can only be cleared up if FIFA and CONCACAF hear our call and collaborate on a formal and thorough investigation into the circumstances that could have motivated referee Mark Geiger, circumstances that were so unfavorable for our country that we ended up being robbed of a victory and having our entire country’s illusion shattered.”

Pedro Chaluja says he understands Panama players’ frustration following the events of Wednesday’s Gold Cup match.

Chaluja said he spoke with Mexican Football Federation president Justino Compean, who said he also supported the necessary probe.

“Justino Compean is in agreement that the investigation should be done for the good of football and for the good of CONCACAF,” Chaluja said.

CONCACAF issued a statement later on Friday and said they would discuss the matter on Saturday.

“CONCACAF has received the official requests from the Panamanian Football Federation and Costa Rican Football Federation and will review them carefully,” the statement said. “The confederation takes these claims extremely seriously and will look into them immediately. As a first step toward addressing the request, this matter has been added to the agenda of tomorrow’s CONCACAF Executive Committee meeting for discussion.”

Chaluja added that the situation goes beyond the match and claimed that the outcome was revenge for Panama having voted against FIFA president Sepp Blatter in recent elections.

“Today someone told us that this has happened because we voted against Blatter. It is up to us to demand an investigation,” he said

Andres Guadardo scored both controversial penalties and said on Thursday that he considered intentionally missing the kick against Panama.

Chaluja agreed that Mexico should have done something to avoid the result.

“I think Mexico had a great opportunity at Fair Play and they threw it away,” he said.

Panama have already called for the removal of CONCACAF’s entire referees committee.

Professional Referee Organization, which is responsible for overseeing professional referee programs in North America, on Thursday issued a strong statement in support of American referee Mark Geiger, who issued the penalty.

Chaluja told ESPN FC later on Friday the fact that Geiger was involved makes the decision even more troubling.

“Firstly, [I’m asking] that [CONCACAF] investigate what is happening at the Gold Cup in terms of the officiating,” Chaluja said. “We’ve had a lot of complaints, irregularities that I believe warrant an investigation [and] a renewal of the refereeing system in CONCACAF.

“What is most troubling is that the referee designated for the game between Mexico and Panama on Wednesday is one of the highest-ranked referees in CONCACAF. If it had been an inconsistent referee, we would’ve said it was normal, but for a referee with an almost perfect performance to commit so many errors in one game is suspicious.

“I believe it is suspicious and should be investigated. There are external interests outside of CONCACAF, outside the federations. There are a lot of interests outside that could cause and influence this situation.”

Regarding the attitude of the Panama players, who said they felt that they were robbed and did not respond in a correct manner, Chaluja said he understands their frustration.

“I can’t blame the players for saying how they feel,” Chaluja said in his news conference. “Their reaction is unavoidable. Leaving the pitch must have been awful. The coaching staff calmed them down.”

Panama will face the United States in a third-place game on Saturday, while Jamaica and Mexico play for the title on Sunday.

ESPN FC reporter Tom Marshall contributed to this report.

For more on this story go to: http://www.espnfc.com/concacaf-gold-cup/story/2535280/panama-mexico-game-was-fixed-says-panama-fa-chief

See related iNews Cayman story published July 23 2015 “Barnes, Jamaica make most of Gold Cup opportunity/ Mexico defeats Costa Rica” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/barnes-jamaica-make-most-of-gold-cup-opportunity/