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Jul 10, 2009 – 11:00 AM
Scanning through some late night television Wednesday night, I settled on ESPNEWS. After a few minutes the bottom line scoreboard flashed Mexico 1, Panama 1 (85th). Intrigued I flipped over to Univision to watch, hopefully, Panama hold on for a draw in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to see the choatic scenario that played out at Houston's Reliant Stadium. Instead of Mexico pressing for a late go-ahead goal, it was simply chaos on the field. Players from both teams swarmed around referee Joel Aguilar protesting something. Eventually Panama's Ricardo Phillips was led off the field through a phalanx of officials to protect him from flying objects.
Eventually play resumed with an almost unimaginable 10 minutes of extra time. When it was all said and done, the game ended in a 1-1 draw, as it looked like a brawl broke out in the stands right in the front row.
Since my Spanish isn't very good, coupled with the fact that Univision didn't show a replay of what triggered the incident, at least when I was tuned in, I had no idea what happened until waking up Friday morning. Since the game ran long, Univision cut right to its local news without a post-game recap.
As it turns out, late in the match Phillips was dribbling up the sideline near the Mexico bench. The ball went over the line and Meixco coach Javier Aguirre stuck his leg up, coming in contact with a very sensitive area on Phillip's body.
From there the benches cleared and tempers flared -- on and off the field.
For Mexico, a team that's searching for an identity, this certainly isn't what El Tri is looking for, especially Aguirre, the country's fourth coach since the 2006 World Cup. Aguirre has since apologized for kicking Phillips, saying he was going for the ball. Expect this incident to haunt him for the rest of his career and some heavy discipline from FIFA.
El Tri players certainly have had some disciplinary problems in international matches, particularly against the U.S. (Rafa Marquez, Oswaldo Sanchez, etc.) but to see the coach react like this probably just underlines the tension in the Mexican camp at the moment. Though the Gold Cup can be looked at as a secondary tournament, El Tri is currently on the outside looking in for the 2010 World Cup, sitting fourth in the CONCACAF hexagonal with a Aug. 12 match at Azteca against the red-hot U.S. looming on the horizon. Call it a massive crisis of confidence.
Suffice to say, there's a strong chance Aguirre might be watching that match next month from somewhere other than the bench in light of Thursday night's meltdown.
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