Latest news with #pro-Mexico
Asharq Al-Awsat
24-03-2025
- Sport
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Mexico Beats Panama 2-1 to Win CONCACAF Nations League Title
Raúl Jiménez scored his second goal on a penalty kick in the second minute of second-half stoppage time, and Mexico beat Panama 2-1 Sunday night to win the CONCACAF Nations League tournament for the first time. Jiménez, the 33-year-old Fulham striker, dominated the week at SoFi Stadium with all four of Mexico's goals in El Tri's two matches, The Associated Press reported. After he scored on a header in the eighth minute against Panama, he used a stutter-step approach before perfectly striking a penalty awarded when defender José Córdoba touched the ball with his inexplicably outstretched arm while chasing after it in the 90th minute. 'It's fantastic to come back after what I've been through,' Jiménez said. 'I'm really happy. This is just a great example that you never have to lose faith, and continue. You know what you're capable to do.' This remarkable tournament is only the latest chapter in the comeback story of Jiménez, who incurred a serious head injury while playing for Wolves in November 2020. After fracturing his skull in a collision with Arsenal's David Luiz, he survived a life-threatening brain bleed and returned to competition nine months later. The US had won the first three editions of this tournament, which brings together the nations of North and Central America and the Caribbean. But with Jiménez in dominant form and veteran coach Javier Aguirre tweaking his formation to emphasize aggression, Mexico stepped up to claim another trophy in the stadium where it won the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup, both times in front of vociferously pro-Mexico crowds. 'We are enjoying our game,' Jiménez said. 'We are really happy. We knew since we arrived, since the (quarterfinals) against Honduras when we won our pass to the final four, we knew this game was going to be difficult, but we knew we had the quality. We know each other. We know how we can play better than the other teams, and that's the key.' Adalberto Carrasquilla scored on a penalty in first-half injury time for underdog Panama, which staged a dramatic 1-0 upset of the host US on Thursday night to reach the final. The championship match was briefly suspended with 10 minutes left in regulation after a large portion of the raucous crowd of 68,212 repeatedly shouted the homophobic Spanish slur that is commonly used at Mexican matches both foreign and domestic despite several governing bodies' attempts to eradicate it. The players took a water break while anti-slur messages appeared on the scoreboard and over the public address system. Misbehavior aside, Mexico feels right at home in the Los Angeles Rams' palatial stadium — or anywhere in Southern California, where El Tri is invariably treated as the home team. Mexico also beat Panama here two years ago in the Gold Cup on Santi Giménez's late goal. Jiménez played up front alongside Giménez in the Nations League semifinals and finals, with coach Javier Aguirre using an aggressive alignment to create offense. It worked splendidly thanks to Jiménez, who needed only a few minutes to get Mexico on top in the final. 'It was crazy,' Giménez said. 'We didn't train it, but we're soccer players, and we know how to play in every formation. It's an honor for me to play with Raúl, and it was a good result because we understand each other. I was more like a No. 10, but still was very good to play with him.' After Roberto Alvarado put a long, beautiful cross into the box, Jiménez outmaneuvered a defender and bounced in a header that set off a raucous celebration at SoFi. Panama dominated possession and generated more shot attempts in the first half, and it finally paid off when video review determined center back Johan Vásquez committed a foul in the Mexico penalty area shortly before halftime. Carrasquilla barely got his shot above goalkeeper Luis Malagón's trailing legs to tie it.
New York Times
24-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Mexico wins Concacaf Nations League title thanks to Jiménez, gifted PK
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Mexico signaled its return to the top of Concacaf Sunday night, beating Panama 2-1 behind two goals from Fulham striker Raúl Jiménez to claim its first Nations League title. The winner came on a stoppage-time penalty, with Panama defender José Córdoba gifting the spot kick to Mexico by diving in his own box with his arm outstretched, making clear contact with a ball that was headed out of play. Advertisement Jiménez, 33, opened the scoring in the eighth minute after meeting a sailing cross at the back post and easily heading the ball home. Panama goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera grossly misjudged the flight of the ball, missing Roberto Alvarado's cross completely. At that moment, it felt like Mexico would run away with the result in front of a loud pro-Mexico crowd. A reported 68,212 attended the final on Sunday. Yet Panama didn't lose its focus after conceding so early. For a team that is comfortable defending in a low block, it quickly adjusted, pushing numbers forward in search of the equalizer. Mexico continued to create chances but solid defending from the Panamanian back line kept the favorites at bay. In the 41st minute, Panama striker Cecilio Waterman, the hero against the U.S. in the semifinal, went down inside the Mexico penalty area following a Panama corner kick. After a video assistant referee review, Panama was awarded a penalty. Adalberto Carrasquilla calmly scored from the spot to even the score at 1-1 in first-half stoppage time. Panama was first to appear onto the pitch after the halftime break, looking spirited and hungry for the second half. It became a physical and choppy encounter in the final 45 minutes. Few chances were created but there were plenty of hard tackles from both sides. A frustrated Mexico fanbase was warned in the 81st minute after sectors of the partisan crowd defied Concacaf's anti-discriminatory protocol with a homophobic fan chant. The referee stopped the match two minutes later when the chant continued. Things calmed down until the 89th minute, when Mexico was awarded a spot kick after the blatant handball from Córdoba inside his own penalty area. Jiménez, whose first goal in the match put him fourth all-time on Mexico national scoring list, converted after several stutter steps. Beer cups flew throughout SoFi Stadium as Jiménez stood tall at the penalty spot admiring the bedlam. Raúl Jiménez comes up clutch from the PK spot 🇲🇽 Mexico are crowned Concacaf Nations League champions for the first time in their history 🏆 — Golazo America (@GolazoAmerica) March 24, 2025 It was a cruel ending for Panama. The underdog Canaleros had played a valiant match in hostile territory. Córdoba's decision to handle the ball unnecessarily spoiled their efforts and prevented Panama from celebrating their first continental title. For Mexico, an in-form and inspired Jiménez is certainly something to celebrate. Jiménez struggled to fully recover from a serious head injury that he suffered while playing for Wolverhampton in 2020. He did not play for nine months, which put his professional career in doubt. Advertisement Five years later, he's once again Mexico's main man, a triumphant return for one of Mexico's most beloved players. And Mexico is once again Concacaf's top squad, lifting the Nations League trophy after a pair of runner-up showings sandwiched a third-place finish. As fellow 2026 World Cup cohosts Canada and the U.S. stumbled, El Tri seized the moment.
New York Times
20-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
The homophobic fan chant at Mexico matches and protocols in place to stop it
Even after a turbulent past couple World Cup cycles, Mexico is undeniably a giant in Concacaf. The men's national team is the only program beyond Europe and South America to have won an official global FIFA competition, having won the 1999 Confederations Cup. It has won a record nine Gold Cups since Concacaf reformatted the tournament for its 1991 iteration, two more than the United States and eight more than Canada. It famously reached the World Cup quarterfinal twice (both on home soil, in 1970 and 1986) and is the only Concacaf program to participate in each installment since 1994. Advertisement Despite all of their accomplishments, one competition (albeit a nascent one) has eluded El Tri: the Concacaf Nations League, which kicks off its fourth four-team finals with a pair of semifinal matchups on Thursday. The USMNT has won the first three installments of the competition, with Mexico finishing as runners-up in 2019-20 and 2023-24 while finishing third in 2022-23 (losing, again, to the U.S.). They'll play again in front of what's expected to be a staunchly pro-Mexico crowd in Los Angeles as they go in search of a first title. Unfortunately, that same raucous support has arguably made a greater impact in the young Nations League's history than the on-field product. In each of the first three iterations, Mexico's fans have marred their matches with an infamous four-letter homophobic chant. That precedent will once again ensure that Mexico's matches are closely scrutinized — not just by their potential opponent in Sunday's third-place match or final (which will be either the U.S. or Panama), but by the sport's governing bodies that have spent over a decade trying to eradicate the hateful chant from Mexico fans' gameday routine. The origin of 'the chant' is frequently disputed, although some cite 2004 matches in Guadalajara (including an Olympics qualifier against the United States) as its point of origination. Ultimately, its sustained presence across many decades is of greater importance to FIFA, Concacaf and the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol (FMF). It is not a chant that elicits 100% participation among El Tri fans, nor is it solely adopted by fans of the national team. Mexico is also not alone in being sanctioned over the years due to unruly and inappropriate fan behavior. Nevertheless, this chant is inextricably linked to the Mexico men's national team. Advertisement The chant — in which fans shout a Spanish, four-letter homophobic slur at the opposing goalkeeper during his run-up to take a goal kick — first elicited attempted action from FIFA following its usage at the 2014 and 2018 World Cups. Mexico and its fans went unpunished after the tournaments in Brazil and Russia. Simply issuing fans warnings proved futile, as Mexico was sanctioned on 12 occasions in 2018 qualifying alone for a sum total of $160,000. Ahead of the 2018 World Cup, the sport's global governing body introduced a three-step protocol in an attempt to curtail the chant. The first step was to stop play and issue a verbal warning to fans over the stadium speakers, while the second step was to suspend the match and send the players to their dressing rooms 'until the offending behavior stops,' which became difficult to gauge for an event-specific shout during a game. The final step was to abandon the match after consulting the team's captains and venue security, hedged by calling this 'a very last resort.' FIFA also made Mexico play three of its World Cup qualifiers without any fans in attendance in reaction to the chant: its first qualifier, and then two subsequent games after the chant persisted following the initial closed-door match in matches against Canada and Honduras. Concacaf's own three-step protocol is similar to the one FIFA introduced, with the North and Central American and Caribbean confederation implementing a version in 2019. This version, which is used in the Nations League, sees 'step one' involve a verbal notice from the stadium announcer, 'step two' require a referee to halt the match for a period of time, and 'step three' sending players back to the locker room while officials determine whether or not to resume the match after a break. In June 2021, at the inaugural Concacaf Nations League in Denver, there was a brief delay in second-half stoppage time after a U.S. goal kick. Things escalated significantly in 2023, when fan chanting in Las Vegas caused the referee to abandon the U.S.'s 3-0 semifinal win over Mexico while in second-half stoppage time, ending the match a few minutes early. The following year, the 2024 Nations League final in Dallas was paused ('step three' of the protocol) due to the increasingly vocal usage of the chant at the end of a match the U.S. won 2-0. Advertisement After the 2024 instance, FIFA president Gianni Infantino posted on social media that 'Discrimination, of any kind, has no place in football and no place in society, and I call on the relevant authorities to ensure that those responsible are held to account for their actions.' One has to assume that Infantino himself is among, if not at the fore, of those relevant authorities. To the FMF's credit, the federation has proactively tried to end the chant's prevalence following the events in 2014. Star players like Javier Hernández, Rafael Márquez and Guillermo Ochoa have all participated in federation-issued videos asking fans not to continue using the chant. Concacaf launched a 'What's Wrong is Wrong' anti-discrimination campaign 2021 and repurposed it in 2023 to coincide with the U.S.-Mexico Nations League semifinal. The chant has also been used by fans of clubs in Liga MX and in MLS. 2025 expansion club San Diego FC saw its inaugural home match marred by the chant, with the club issuing multiple stadium addresses in both English and Spanish asking fans to stop the behavior. Apple TV's broadcast picked up at least six clear instances of the chant being shouted. LAFC previously had success in eradicating the chant from their matches, with players and organized fan groups preaching messages of inclusion. It's of course not fair or accurate to generalize every Mexico fan as a participant or homophobic. The acts of a loud minority should not taint the entirety of a fanbase. But until the chant subsides on a wholesale level, the stigma surrounding El Tri matches will remain – and with a World Cup partially taking place on Mexican soil in 2026, the world is watching.
New York Times
04-03-2025
- Business
- New York Times
In Face of Trump's Tariffs, Mexico Embraces Its President and Nationalism
Claudia Sheinbaum, the president of Mexico, stood underneath a giant Mexican flag and before troops at a military installation in Mexico City. It was Flag Day last month and she used her speech as an opportunity to, figuratively and literally, rally around it. 'Mexico must be respected,' she said, adding later: 'Its people are brave. We know that when our people unite around their history, their country and their flag, there is no force in the world that can break their spirit.' Times had changed, she said: Mexico would not bow down to foreign governments. Given the circumstances — President Trump's steep tariffs against Mexico went into effect in the first minutes of Tuesday — Ms. Sheinbaum's optics were fitting. As Mr. Trump once again targeted Mexico, using the hammer of tariffs as a negotiating tool, a sense of Mexican nationalism has been strengthened. The Mexican government and businesses have rekindled a 'Made in Mexico' campaign. Some Mexicans have called for boycotts of U.S. companies and products, while others have put together lists of Mexican stores and brands to support instead of American ones. Ms. Sheinbaum is frequently featured on the front page of local newspapers with members of the country's military or in front of a giant Mexican flag. Private companies have taken out nationalistic advertisements, one featuring the president leading the masses and carrying a banner saying, 'Mexico united, never defeated!' And Ms. Sheinbaum, who has been trying to balance a pro-Mexico drumbeat while advocating cooperative dialogue with American officials, has seen her approval ratings rise as high as 80 percent, according to one poll. She has not only succeeded a popular president, Andres Manuel López Obrador, who reshaped Mexican politics and was her mentor, but has come into her own at a time of global upheaval under Mr. Trump. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
