Panama Soccer Players, Media Call CONCACAF "Thieves" After Loss to Mexico

Panama was about a minute away from upsetting Mexico and moving on to its second straight Gold Cup final. This would have been particularly impressive since Panama played the majority of the match down to 10 players following a first-half red card. But a late, controversial penalty call by American referee Mark Geiger for a handball on Roman Torres sent the game into chaos.

There was a delay of nearly 11 minutes between the penalty call and the actual penalty kick, as debris rained down on the field and both teams scuffled at midfield.

As you can hear below, the Univision call of Andres Guardado penalty credited the goal to Geiger rather than the Mexico captain.

" VIDEO #UDCopaOro: Andrés Guardado cobra el penal y anota para #MEX. Mira el gol @SprintLatino http://t.co/afDoSFBwzN — Univision Deportes (@UnivisionSports) July 23, 2015 "

Eventually Mexico won 2-1 thanks to another Guardado penalty — this one very clear cut — in extra time. After the final whistle sounded almost the entire Panama squad swarmed Geiger who needed security to help him to the Georgia Dome locker rooms.

Speaking of the locker rooms, Panama posted this banner afterward calling out CONCACAF presumably under the premise the federation wanted Mexico in the final on Sunday in Philadelphia.

The winner of Sunday’s final between Jamaica and Mexico plays the United States in a one-off playoff to determine CONCACAF’s representative in the 2017 Confederations Cup. A potential U.S.-Mexico game in October would present a lot more money to CONCACAF’s coffers than the other possible matchups, so you could see why the Panama players were thinking the fix was in, especially since Mexico got past Costa Rica in the quarterfinal via a debatable stoppage time penalty.

Panama’s Diaro Critica left no doubt about how it felt about the match, CONCACAF and Geiger’s decision with this blistering front page.

Although CONCACAF is front-and-center during the on-going FIFA corruption scandal, it’s hard to fathom there is an actual conspiracy that influenced Geiger’s decision. If we know anything it’s that officiating in CONCACAF is routinely (and depressingly) arbitrary, questionable and subpar. CONCACAF is going to CONCACAF but thinking Geiger — who has officiated in a World Cup — was influenced to help Mexico get to the final is a little too much to swallow. The better question to ask is whether CONCACAF will do anything to try to prevent scenes like we saw Wednesday night with fans pelting Panama with cups of beer after their goal?

An 11-minute delay while the teams argue with one another shouldn’t happen at this level. CONCACAF is no stranger to embarassment but it’s pretty bad when the Fox Sports announcers, J.P. Dellacamera and Stuart Holden, are speculating if the match is going to be abandoned and when it might be replayed.

In the end you have to feel for Panama which came within minutes of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup playoffs, only to be undone by Graham Zusi and the United States — a result that helped Mexico avoid embarrassment and qualify.

RELATED: Jamaica 2, USA 1: Three Quick Thoughts After the Worst Loss in the Klinsmann Era

[Feature Image via USAT]