Former Chelsea and Tottenham manager, Mauricio Pochettino has slammed the referee, Mario Escobar for some wrong calls during the United States 2-1 defeat to Mexico in the Concacaf Gold Cup final, as disclosed by Softfootball.
The game which was played in the early hours of Monday in front of a packed crowd of 70,000 fans at the NGR Stadium in Houston witnessed a pulsating encounter.
Chris Richards gave US the lead through a header in the fourth minute but Fulham striker Raúl Jiménez equalised on 27 minutes and celebrated with a tribute to Diogo Jota who died last week in a car crash alongside his brother, Andre.
However, in the Mexican defender Jorge Sánchez handled the ball inside his box but after the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) called the referee’s attention. He judged the handball as not deliberate as the player slipped before touching the ball.
Edson Álvarez then went on to score Mexico’s winner in the 77th-minute of the encounter but according to Pochettino, he was clearly offside before scoring.
During his post-match press conference, Pochettino expressed frustration over referee Mario Escobar’s decisions, suggesting they favoured Mexico. The Athletic, reporting on his remarks, quoted him as saying:
“I’m not going to cry, I wanted to tell the truth, and the truth was that if that happened in the opposite (box) for sure it’s penalty.
“(Sánchez) was the player with the knee on the floor. He pushed the hand over the ball. It’s not that the hand was on the floor and the ball touched.
“OK, well the excuses now, but you know that was (a) penalty and maybe 2-1 for us and maybe we now (would be) celebrating the trophy. I think that it is clear and it’s not about to cry, it’s not about to complain. For me it was embarrassing to see that situation and it’s a shame.”
He continued:
“In this tournament. Mexico suffered two disallowed goals. The thing that happened today, it’s difficult to (disallow), but in the end Montes was blocking Richards where they arrived.
“And when the ball (was) coming in he touch the ball. The player from Mexico delivered the ball was in an offside position. That’s it. Nothing more to say. OK, we are talking about rules … but on (this) we suffer.”
However, Pochettino was happy with the performance of his team despite being without key players like Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tim Weah and Antonee Robinson. He said:
“I think it was an amazing tournament to realize in the way that we want to grow.
“I think we are going to find the way to compete better and better and be very competitive and be in the place that we want it to be. I think that is a very painful night because when you lose a a trophy or you lose a game, it’s really, really painful. But the most important thing is to have our head up.
“That is the way that we want to build our journey and into the World Cup. In this way, I have no doubt that we are going to be really, really competitive and going to be very difficult for the opponent.”
Softfootball can reveal that Mexico has now won the most Concacaf titles with 10 following their victory against 7-time winners United States on Monday. The Concacaf God Cup began in 1991.
This edition had 16 teams participate in the Concacaf Gold Cup tournament showing talent from across North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
