CONCACAF's officers may be in for a tough challenge after yesterday's shameful show which saw Mexico win in order to progress to their eighth Gold Cup final. The Panamanian Football Federation entered a complaint concerning Mark Geiger's refereeing yesterday, in which they demand the entire North American referee board to resign from their jobs, since they feel "robbed" after Mexico was handed a penalty during the final seconds of the game.
"We demand a swift answer to this matter, since this shameful display hurts football and makes all of our players' efforts useless. All the sacrifice our coaching staff put up goes down the drain and we want someone to pay for it," can be read in the complaint.
In fact, Los Canaleros emphasize the impact of the ref's actions by stating in their complaint that their team was far more superior than Mexico, which needed Geiger's help to make it through.
"It was clear to everyone that Panama was far more superior than Mexico on the pitch. Our opponent had no answer to our technical and tactical display, so the referee, with the intention of hurting our chances, decided to give our opponents a hand by sending off Luis Tejada and creating a late penalty out of the blue," the document ends.
Panama may boycott the 3rd place match
Tejada(in red) being handed a red card by referee Mark Geiger.
Panama's players want to take a stand, even if it's off the pitch. After attempting to forfeit yesterday's match, striker Luis Tejada revealed the team is thinking about not showing up to play the 3rd place game against the USMNT, given that their group feels their elimination was not fair.
"All of the players will have a meeting, and then we will decide what's going to happen. Right now, I can't assure we will show up to play this Saturday," Tejada revealed.
The player, nicknamed "Matador", also criticized Andres Guardado's decision to convert the penalty kick given by Mark Geiger when the game was about to end.
"If we're talking about Fair Play, then he should've missed it. Anyone in his shoes would've done so," Tejada concluded.
