English-language viewers who stuck around through the disappointment of the U.S. men's national team's 1-0 loss to Panama in Thursday's first Concacaf Nations League semifinal were treated to legendary broadcaster Andres Cantor making a rare english-language call with his son, Nico Cantor, on Paramount+.
Andres Cantor has been announcing the world's biggest matches on American Spanish-language TV since the early 1990s, first for Univision and later for Telemundo. And as the unofficial dean of American soccer broadcasters, when he expresses his opinion on a controversial issue, it is to be taken seriously.
Viewers of Mexico's 2-0 semifinal win over Canada were witness to such an occasion just before halftime, when the problematic chant that has haunted the Mexico national team for decades surfaced again.
'They will never abandon a game'
And instead of shaming Mexican supporters, Cantor instead directed his ire as what he saw as Concacaf's lack of willingness to enforce consequences.
"This is the second time we’ve heard the chant that the referees never listen to in Concacaf," Cantor said of what he heard after Canada goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair took a free kick from his own half. "They put out press releases, they make announcements. It’s happened twice already. They will never stop a game. They will never abandon a game."
Even more interestingly, former FIFA referee Christina Unkel seemed to echo Cantor's assertion.
"A lot of it needs to be support from the competitions as well," Unke; said. "Because I can tell you in having to manage it myself as a FIFA referee, if you don’t have the support from the competition to abandon a game because of the implications of that, it’s very hard to do so."
Three steps
Concacaf's attempt to modify fan behavior includes a protocol referees are supposed to implement when the chant surfaces.
Referees are to pause the match up to two times, while an announcement is made that continued use of the chant will result in the match's suspension. If the match is paused a third time, the game is to be abandoned.
To date, no Concacaf senior competition has reached that third step, even when fan conduct continued to violate Concacaf's anti-discrimination policies.
Mexico national team players and coaches have gone to great lengths to try and get their own fans to try and stop the chant, with only limited success.
Elsewhere, San Diego FC has also dealt with the issue, particularly in its inaugural home match of the MLS season against St. Louis City back on March 1.