U.S. Soccer Game Against Mexico Stopped Due To Anti-Gay Chants In Las Vegas

The United States men’s national soccer team won 3-0 against Mexico in the CONCACAF Nations League semifinal on Thursday. But the game was ended before the conclusion of second-half stoppage time by the referee, Ivan Barton, due to anti-LGBTQ chanting from the crowd in Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Barton had already given out four red cards and had previously stopped the game in the 89th minute because of the anti-LGBTQ chanting. The game was restarted, but with four minutes left in stoppage time, he blew the final whistle after the U.S. goalkeeper Matt Turner was subjected to anti-LGBTQ chanting again.

CONCACAF, FIFA’s governing body for North America, Central America and the Caribbean, said in a statement on Friday that it “condemns the discriminatory chanting.” The organization later commented that the chants led to the “activation of the anti-discrimination protocol by the match officials” and that security ejected several fans.

The Mexican Football Federation (FMF) has faced recent struggles with cracking down on anti-LGBTQ chanting during opposition goal kicks. FIFA fined the federation for chants during the 2022 World Cup, including a $108,000 sanction. The FMF has attempted to eliminate the chants through pregame announcements from players and social media posts.

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CONCACAF announced before the game that it had started an anti-discrimination campaign to increase security and adopt a “more proactive approach to ejecting fans who engage in discriminatory chants.”

Likewise, U.S. soccer recently established a rule that could punish derogatory chants and ban teams from playing international games in the U.S. for two years. A second violation would involve a five-year penalty and a third would result in a permanent ban. It remains unclear if this policy would apply to the game on Thursday.