Matt Turner, the goalie for the United States Men’s Soccer Team, endured anti-gay chants from Mexico fans in Las Vegas during the team’s CONCACAF Nation’s League semifinal match in Las Vegas on June 15.
“It goes against everything we stand for,” Turner said after that match, which was suspended due to the anti-gay chant from Mexico fans. “We’ve been very vocal about the strength of our team being our diversity, the strength of our nation being its diversity. So, to use something so divisive…it has no place in the game.”
Sadly, US Soccer and CONCACAF, which was the governing body for the match, have utterly failed in curtailing the chanting of anti-gay slurs by Mexico fans during matches.
This has previously resulted in fines and other punishments from FIFA. Still, many Mexico fans have refused to stop chanting the slur.
Everyone in the stadium knew the anti-gay chant would happen, and everyone involved in the management of the match failed to prevent it.
US Soccer and CONCACAF should be ashamed.
The Mexico soccer team is scheduled to compete in more matches in the United States in the coming weeks. What will FIFA, US Soccer and CONCACAF do to curtail the behavior? So far it’s been a lot of shoulder-shrugging and minimal consequences.
We’ll see if soccer in the United States has the guts to really take on this issue in the coming weeks.
