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Football

23rd Jul 2015

Pic: Panamanian newspaper wheel out NSFW headline after controversial penalty

Blunt

Ben Kiely

Panama were sent crashing out of the Gold Cup after a highly controversial semi-final loss to Mexico.

Roman Torres gave Panama the lead early in the second half, but things really kicked off when American referee Mark Geiger awarded a very soft penalty after Torres fell on the ball in the box. Mexico captain Andres Guardado fired level by converting the resulting penalty.

He added his second and the match-winner with another spot kick in extra time in the 97th minute.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gZw6kxs83A

The referee received a lot of backlash for his performance, particularly for issuing seven yellow cards and a red to the Panama.

Panama paper Diario Critica echoed the sentiments of the nation with their front page on Thursday’s edition. the newspaper went with the headline ‘f*cking ref’ and featured a photoshopped image of the ref with wads of cash in his hand as he showed a Panama player a red card.

The Panama squad were also aggrieved with the officials’ dubious game. They must be commended for the speed in which they knocked this banner up.

Neil Buchanan would be proud.