MEXICO CITY (AFP) – Mexico played the CONCACAF World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica on Sunday without fans, but the president of the Mexican Football Association, Yon de Luisa, said he hoped 40,000 people could attend the matches. El Salvador.
Before the Ticos, El Tri allowed access to about 2,000 people at the Azteca Stadium to test a fan identification program through which they hope to end the anti-gay outcry against goalkeepers that has caused nearly two dozen FIFA penalties.
Mexico has already warned its followers that anyone identified for shouting will be banned for five years from attending its matches.
“At the FIFA date in March, we will see more capabilities against the United States and El Salvador, despite the greater capacity for the complications that will certainly be greater,” the leader said before the start of the match. “We will wait for how the two matches against Costa Rica and Panama develop, but we think that between 30 and 40 thousand (fans)”.
The El Tri team will receive the Americans at Azteca on March 24 and on the 30th of the same month they will do the same against El Salvador, at the last date of the Qatar 2022 eight round.
To enter the stadium for these games, fans must purchase their ticket and register their personal details to receive a QR code that will be verified upon entry and must match the official ID.
De Luisa said that in the future, FIFA should take into account the efforts they have made and that individuals who shout should be punished, not the federations.
“If someone does a discriminatory act, that person is investigated, not the team, nor the less-attentive players, nor the coaching staff,” de Luisa said. “I think that among the federations in the world, we are the ones who work the most with local authorities and with FIFA itself, which congratulates us on the initiatives, but at the same time punishes us.”
FIFA’s latest penalty – the 17th in history – involved playing the two matches against Costa Rica and Panama behind closed doors, but Mexico appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which overturned the penalty while its decision was being made.
Local leaders took the opportunity to pilot the new program with about 2,000 people, including family members and workers for the Mexican Federation.
Those Mexico onlookers shouted Keylor Navas permits, a word the unions proposed instead of homophobic.
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