Mexican Football Club Twitter Account References Nazis While Defending Game-Changing Offsides Call
By Liam McKeone
On Sunday night, the Mexican football club Atlas FC faced off against New York City FC during group stages of the Leagues Cup, an annual competition between MLS and Liga MX. The tournament began over the weekend and the group stages will run until next week. Then comes the elimination rounds and the last team standing will receive a nice trophy and an automatic qualification for the Round of 16 in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Atlas defeated NYFC, 1-0, to kick off their bid to win the whole thing.
The victory did not come without controversy, though. NYC scored an equalizer on a free kick in the 87th minute, but the goal was called off after VAR found an NYCFC player was offsides.
NYCFC's equalizing goal against Atlas was disallowed after VAR ruled it offside.
— The Athletic Soccer (@TheAthleticSCCR) July 24, 2023
Did they get the call right?
🎥 @MLS | #LeaguesCup2023 pic.twitter.com/DReny2jzSF
As is often the case with those calls in high-leverage situations, many people were unhappy with it. Like NYCFC's manager, for example.
“It was a goal”@NYCFC Head Coach Nick Cushing was NOT happy with Justin Haak’s goal and #NYCFC’s equalizer being chalked off for offside after VAR review.
— Mark Radigan (@mark_radigan) July 24, 2023
Will most certainly be a debated talking point amongst fans ahead of Wednesday v Toronto.#DaleNewYork | @hudsonriverblue pic.twitter.com/l8QtUIWjWd
Things apparently got so bad that the Atlas FC official Twitter account (X account?) felt the need to defend it online. However, the method they chose to do so was.... um... interesting. In the below tweet you'll see that they compare the discourse around the call to Goebbels and the disinformation campaign of the Hitler regime, even going so far as to quote Goebbels.
Esta toma es más clara que el agua, el fuera de lugar sucede en la primera jugada. Es lamentable como “influencers” y gente de medios “analistas” manipulen generando ideas de “supuestas ayudas”, pero recordando lo que dijo Goebbels, Ministro Nazi de información (mano derecha de… pic.twitter.com/M1soNi6VNJ
— Atlas FC (@AtlasFC) July 24, 2023
And a screenshot for when this inevitably gets deleted:
The longer you think about this comparison the worse it gets. Just insane. It is simply not that serious, folks.
If you thought you'd make it through your Monday without a Hitler mention, you thought wrong.