Yes, the Mexico v Panama game was played as the second half of a double-header in Houston. This was not a wise scheduling move; the crowd consisted of 45,000 mostly rabid fans of El Tri who were all hyped up. In addition, the teams exhibited animosity towards each other right from the start, with several staredowns in the first half alone.
At the end of the first half, there was a hard foul by a Panamanian player, and a shoving match ensued. As a result, two players were sent off; the Panamanian who committed the foul, and a Mexican who retaliated. By this time, the game had been knotted at 1 - 1, which was the final score.
Things were not much better in the second half, though there were no yellow cards. With just over 10 minutes to play, a Panamanian player ran after a ball that went into touch right before the Mexican bench. Apparently, the Mexican head coach tripped the Panamanian (the coach said it was an accident, trying to stop the ball; the Panamanians believed otherwise). This resulted in a pushing match between the coach (Aguirre) and the player; both were then sent off. This left Panama with 9 on the pitch against Mexico’s leaderless 10. The crowd continued to be agitated, and fights began to break out between the few Panamanian supporters and the numerous Mexican supporters.
Just before time, a thrown water bottle struck the Panamanian goal-scorer, causing him to fall down in a heap on the pitch (soccer players have to be the least stable people known on the planet). When he was being stretchered off, he was hit again with a thrown water bottle. As the full time whistle blew, the Panamanian team huddled at the center of the pitch, while the authorities herded the spectators out of the stadium (Reliant Stadium).
In other words, it was normal Central American soccer, though not what we are used to seeing in America at our soccer games (we don’t have 45,000 fans who would get that rabid about ANY soccer team in this country; now, Philly fans…). While the Panamanian coach was livid, most of the Panamanian players seemed to be of the “eh?” frame of mind, with at least a couple that I read saying that “this is soccer.”
El Tri, btw, can be knocked out of the tournament if they lose to or tie Guadaloupe. Normally, that would be a laughable thought, but Guadaloupe has beaten both the Nicaragua and Panama teams, normally unthinkable results for that tiny island nation’s team. And Mexico haven’t exactly been on their game lately. Sunday should prove VERY interesting.
