Hang it in the Louvre: USA 3 - Mexico 0
We've got ourselves a tres a cero for the ages. Notes from Allegiant Stadium last night
Brawl? Check. Second brawl? Also check. A red card? Four of them. Match finished with just nine men on both sides.
Things thrown on the field, raining down on the players? Yes. A checklist of topsy-turvy things that can happen in this match-up, did happen in this match-up last night.
“The chant”? Unfortunately.
And clearly: pausing the game, flashing the warnings, and going through “the protocol”... doesn’t stop the groundswell of in-stadium frustration coalescing whenever Matt Turner had the ball, spilling out into some of the loudest “chants” I’ve ever heard in person across Concacaf.
It reared its head rather vaguely in the first half. At the end, after the red cards, after Ricardo Pepi made it 3-0 in the USA’s favor, it showed up with renewed force.
… That tends to be when it finds force. Truth be told, when all is lost on the field anyway, the pausing and warnings make it worse. I’ve seen that happen multiple times in person now.
“Officially”, technically, the chant didn’t end the game. The referee ended the match with 5-6 minutes remaining in stoppage time, because… you know, just at his discretion. Or, so went the refrain.
The Concacaf officials in the press area following the match refused to confirm or say the match ended directly because of “the chant”. It just simply ended, amid the chant.
When pressed by various members of the media waiting for B.J. Callaghan, they said, “send us an email”. Eventually they made this statement. It was a chaotic evening.
It was all very, well… Concacaf.
But it was also a convincing evening and a regenerative evening, when it came to how well this team can truly play together. After a long club season, the USMNT got together and absolutely balled out.
And as Christian Pulisic later pled to the press in the mixed zone, it would be a shame if we lost the convincing-play part as our main takeaway, sacrificed at the altar of undeniable, utter chaos.
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