This has been stated many times and this edition of the Gold Cup is a great example of this. The Gold Cup is a competition almost rigged for Mexico and the US to reach the final. Unfortunately, CONCACAF seems to think these countries need an extra hand when it comes to the Cup and the officials are willing to follow through with the orders from above.
The USA-Panama game was the first example on Saturday with a ref shading calls towards the US, and yesterdays Mexico - Costa Rica game was almost absurd.
I want to make one thing very obvious. I am very critical of the Costa Rican national team, I am by no means a homer and call things the way I see them. I am not making excuses for having lost yesterday, we lost because our team is lost, we dont have a solid game right now, our offense is horrendous with a couple forwards allergic to scoring any goals. Our offense is anemic and the defense is somewhat shaky. We lost, not because Mexico played better, but because they scored a goal. Anyone that watched that game also realized the Mexican team is about 35% of its potential right now.
Having said that, the referree for yesterdays game should be shot or his ref status should be revoked. My God, how many bad calls can one guy pull off in 90 minutes of play? Again, Im not making excuses but the first red card was a bit extreme and the same can be said for the second, heck even the third one as the play was mostly accidental and unfortunately it looked worse than it really was, if u see the replay, Blancos face wasnt even touched even though thats what he went down grabbing in pain, his face, ironically it wasnt touched. Constant Mexican fouls ignored by a ref who red carded another guy with a double yellow even though he only had 1 and took out a card and showed it to a guy and then looked up to see what card he had in his hand. Perhaps he caved in to the pressure of the majority Mexican crowd at Reliant Stadium or perhaps he caved in to the orders of CONCACAF to get Mexico thru.
Either one, the officiating was atrocious.
:nohead:
The USA-Panama game was the first example on Saturday with a ref shading calls towards the US, and yesterdays Mexico - Costa Rica game was almost absurd.
I want to make one thing very obvious. I am very critical of the Costa Rican national team, I am by no means a homer and call things the way I see them. I am not making excuses for having lost yesterday, we lost because our team is lost, we dont have a solid game right now, our offense is horrendous with a couple forwards allergic to scoring any goals. Our offense is anemic and the defense is somewhat shaky. We lost, not because Mexico played better, but because they scored a goal. Anyone that watched that game also realized the Mexican team is about 35% of its potential right now.
Having said that, the referree for yesterdays game should be shot or his ref status should be revoked. My God, how many bad calls can one guy pull off in 90 minutes of play? Again, Im not making excuses but the first red card was a bit extreme and the same can be said for the second, heck even the third one as the play was mostly accidental and unfortunately it looked worse than it really was, if u see the replay, Blancos face wasnt even touched even though thats what he went down grabbing in pain, his face, ironically it wasnt touched. Constant Mexican fouls ignored by a ref who red carded another guy with a double yellow even though he only had 1 and took out a card and showed it to a guy and then looked up to see what card he had in his hand. Perhaps he caved in to the pressure of the majority Mexican crowd at Reliant Stadium or perhaps he caved in to the orders of CONCACAF to get Mexico thru.
Either one, the officiating was atrocious.
:nohead:
