Homophobic chants end USMNT win over Mexico early

The USMNT defeated Mexico 3-0 behind two goals from Christian Pulisic and will look to win its second straight Concacaf Nations League title when they face Canada on Sunday. The Americans will play Sunday's championship without Weston McKennie and Sergino Dest, who received two of the four red cards handed out by referee Ivan Barton on Thursday.

After the initial pause in the contest, Barton resumed play, but with four minutes to go in injury time, the official called the contest after a goal kick by U.S. goalie Matt Turner was "once again greeted by the anti-gay chant," according to a report by ESPN's Cesar Hernandez.

Per the report, Concacaf said following the contest that the game was called at the "referee's discretion."

The game took place at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Concacaf also released a statement on the matter on Friday.

"Concacaf strongly condemns the discriminatory chanting by some fans during the 2023 Concacaf Nations League Semifinal match between Mexico and the United States. Chants heard during the game led to the activation of the anti-discrimination protocol by the match officials. Additionally, security staff ejected several fans for engaging in unacceptable behavior in the stadium," the statement said. "These incidents were extremely disappointing and tarnished what should have been a positive occasion to showcase high quality football in our region. The Confederation is in the process of urgently establishing further details and reports from security and match officials and will make a further statement in short order."

According to the ESPN report, the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) has "struggled in recent years with curtailing the anti-gay chant that is typically yelled during opposing goal kicks."

FIFA has issued fines to the FMF because of the action of fans, including a $108,000 sanction in January for the chant at the 2022 World Cup.