Panama were sent crashing out of the Gold Cup after a highly controversial semi-final loss to Mexico.
Roman Torres gave Panama the lead early in the second half, but things really kicked off when American referee Mark Geiger awarded a very soft penalty after Torres fell on the ball in the box. Mexico captain Andres Guardado fired level by converting the resulting penalty.
He added his second and the match-winner with another spot kick in extra time in the 97th minute.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gZw6kxs83A
The referee received a lot of backlash for his performance, particularly for issuing seven yellow cards and a red to the Panama.
Panama paper Diario Critica echoed the sentiments of the nation with their front page on Thursday’s edition. the newspaper went with the headline ‘f*cking ref’ and featured a photoshopped image of the ref with wads of cash in his hand as he showed a Panama player a red card.
Panamanian daily @CriticaPa clearly not happy with referee Mark Geiger's performance in last nights #GoldCup game pic.twitter.com/FMMOzWSliS
— AS USA (@English_AS) July 23, 2015
The Panama squad were also aggrieved with the officials’ dubious game. They must be commended for the speed in which they knocked this banner up.
Wow. Panama squad posing for a pic with banner saying "Concacaf cheaters" after losing v Mexico for illegal penalty pic.twitter.com/W0QPPf4Lgj
— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) July 23, 2015
Neil Buchanan would be proud.
