DENVER: Mexico booked their place in the CONCACAF Nations League final on Thursday after a stormy victory over Costa Rica that saw play briefly halted following homophobic chants by fans.

Goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa was Mexico’s hero, saving Allan Cruz’s spot kick to give the favourites a 5-4 penalty shoot-out win after the game finished deadlocked at 0-0 after 90 minutes.

But the game at Denver’s Mile High Stadium was marred by homophobic chants throughout, which came despite regional federation CONCACAF vowing to crack down on the abuse earlier this week.

Tournament officials later revealed several fans had been ejected by stadium security in the first half after warnings on the public address system over the “discriminatory language”.

The game was then halted for three minutes by match officials during stoppage time after the chants persisted.

Mexico has been been repeatedly sanctioned over the years by regional and global football bodies for a chant by fans of the national team which is seen as homophobic.

Mexico will play the United States in Sunday’s final after a late goal from Jordan Siebatcheu secured a 1-0 win over Honduras in Thursday’s earlier semi-final.

Siebatcheu entered in the 78th minute and scored his first goal in his fourth US match with a diving header from a one-bounce flick by Weston McKennie to settle a scrappy game.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2021