CONCACAF suspends four players after USA-Mexico brawl

Los Angeles (AFP): CONCACAF meted out suspensions to Weston McKennie and Sergino Dest of the United States and Mexico’s Cesar Montes and Gerardo Arteaga on Friday in the wake of the stormy Champions League clash between the two nations.

The United States triumphed 3-0 in the semifinal match that saw both sides finish with nine men. Montes was shown a red card for an ugly wild kick at Folarin Balogun and McKennie was dismissed for his role in the fracas which followed.

Arteaga and Dest were sent off after another mass brawl. CONCACAF, football’s governing body for North and Central America and the Caribbean, said on Friday that McKennie and Montes have been suspended a further three matches, in addition to their automatic one-match bans.

Dest and Arteaga were suspended an additional two games.

Dest and McKennie are not in the US squad for the CONCACAF Gold Cup that starts on Saturday, but the sanctions will be a blow for Mexico in the competition, with both Montes and Arteaga in the Gold Cup squad.

CONCACAF said both teams had been fined an undisclosed amount, but did not mention the homophobic chants by Mexican supporters that prompted Salvadoran referee Ivan Barton to halt the match in the final minutes.

CONCACAF said in a statement after the game that it “strongly condemned” what it called “discriminatory chanting.”

Multiple fines handed to Mexico over several years over such chants by its fans total more than $650,00 and they were forced to play without fans against Jamaica in September 2021.