How did Mexico get away with a handball penalty vs. USMNT in Gold Cup final?

USA Today

07-07-2025

The U.S. men's national team made a run to the Gold Cup final on Sunday despite not having its best squad available. But that won't have head coach Mauricio Pochettino feeling any better about the 2-1 loss to rival Mexico.
And one no-call, in particular, will haunt the USMNT into months ahead.
With the match tied a 1-1 in the second half, the USMNT's Max Arfsten took on Mexico's Jorge Sánchez and Roberto Alvarado in the box. Sánchez was able to make a play on the ball, dispossessing Arfsten with his left foot. But as Sánchez tried to brace himself, his entire left hand landed right on the ball. Again, this was in the box, but no penalty was awarded to the USMNT.
Why wasn't a handball called?
Referee Mario Escobar of Guatemala did not call a handball, and the play didn't even go into an extended VAR review at the monitor. Escobar was relying on the IFAB's Laws of the Game, allowing players freedom to brace falls and support themselves naturally without risking a handball.
The argument behind that rule is that it's natural for players to brace themselves and they shouldn't be at fault if a fall so happens to make contact with the ball. After all, if it's unavoidable, there shouldn't be a penalty.
But that exception still has nuance, and the player's intent or ability to avoid the ball is still taken into account. That's where you would have liked to at least see a VAR review on this play because Sánchez was looking at the ball the whole way and stopped the ball with his hand.
The ruling of no handball may have been upheld, but that's the kind of pivotal call you want the head referee to be making at the monitor.
What did Pochettino say about the no-call?
The USMNT head coach was justifiably upset that his team didn't get awarded a penalty. He claimed if roles were reversed and it was a USMNT player falling on the ball like that, we would have seen a different result.
"The truth was that if that happened in the opposite half, in the other box, for sure it's a penalty. The player was with a knee on the floor, he pushed the hand over the ball. It's not that the hand was [already] on the floor, and the ball touched.
"For me, it was embarrassing to see that situation and it's a shame. I understand that maybe 70,000 people [in the crowd], you know, giving this penalty, it's not easy."
He's probably right too. VAR exists for moments like that, and it wasn't deployed correctly at all.