CHESTER, Pa. — The head of soccer’s governing body for North America, Central America and the Caribbean region said Saturday that “human errors,” not match-fixing, resulted in erroneous refereeing decisions that contributed to Panama’s 2-1 defeat by Mexico on Wednesday in the semifinals of the Gold Cup.
On Friday, the president of Panama’s soccer federation claimed that the match had been fixed because Panama declined to vote for Sepp Blatter in the recent FIFA presidential election.
In a statement on Saturday, Alfredo Hawit, the president of Concacaf, the regional governing body, said officials had met with referee Mark Geiger, an American who issued a disputed red card early in the game and called a questionable penalty for a hand ball late in regulation, allowing Mexico to tie the semifinal match at 1-1.