Honduras Federation planning legal action against referee Iván Barton after Mexico defeat
President Jorge Salomón was furious after his team conceded an injury-time equaliser and lost in a penalty shootout in the CONCACAF Nations League.
The Honduran Soccer Federation have not taken their CONCACAF Nations League elimination at the hands of Mexico lying down. President Jorge Salomón stated after their penalty shootout defeat at Estadio Azteca his organisation would be looking to take legal action against Salvadoran referee Iván Barton, who initially decided to add on nine minutes of injury time and then a further three at the end of the second half, during which time the hosts’ Edson Álvarez levelled the tie on aggregate.
Why are Honduras unhappy with Barton?
“We were the victims of the match going to extra time and penalties. We’re going to assess what we can do in legal terms. The refereeing didn’t just go in favour of the home team, it was if they’d been told what to do,” Salomón told Honduran newspaper El Heraldo.
“We did not think something that extreme could happen with the officials”, he continued. “We’ve never had anything that unpleasant happen to us, it was like something out of a movie. The nine minutes had passed - and there shouldn’t have been nine, there were five - then it went to 10, then 11 and then 12.”
Mexico fans’ homophobic chant towards Menjivar
Salomón was also questioned why nothing was done about Mexican fans directing their infamous homophobic chant at goalkeeper Edrick Menjivar, who they appeared to believe was wasting time from early on in the match.
“There were several incidents during the match. The (homophobic) chants should have seen the match stopped according to the protocols, the commissioner, etc. We are sad because we did not qualify directly, we are going to the (Copa América) playoffs, but we are happy with the performance of the team,” the president concluded.
Honduras wasted almost 10 minutes in second half
According to ESPN, Honduras wasted nine minutes and 55 seconds in the second half between free-kicks, goal-kicks and other stoppages which would have influenced the amount of time added on at the end of the match. That figure, however, doesn’t take into account substitutions, which the visitors also used in an effort to further run down the clock.