Panama, Costa Rica join forces, demand corruption investigation

Panama and Costa Rica have joined forces, launching a petition to call on FIFA and CONCACAF to review the possibility of corruption at the Gold Cup.

Each of Panama and Costa Rica were eliminated by Mexico in the Gold Cup's knockout stages, with Miguel Herrera's men recipients of dubious penalty decisions in each fixture.

Panama's football federation (FEPAFUT) president Pedro Chaluja claimed he had the support of CONCACAF president Alfredo Hawit - who is occupying the role in the interim, after predecessor Jeffrey Webb left the role in May when he was arrested and indicted for racketeering, conspiracy and corruption.

"Their president, Hawit, has expressed his support for us," Chaluja told in a news conference.

"It is not just Panama asking for an investigation, it is Costa Rica as well."

He added: "Sadly, we share the disillusion of having to call attention to the poor refereeing decisions that were deliberate and motivated by an intention to protect third parties.

"It is our perception that this match was fixed and not by the Mexican Football Federation but rather by others.

"These occurrences can only be cleared up if FIFA and CONCACAF hear our call and collaborate on a formal and thorough investigation into the circumstances that could have motivated referee Mark Geiger, circumstances that were so unfavourable for our country that we ended up being robbed of a victory and having our entire country's illusion shattered."

CONCACAF released a statement - revealing the issue would be discussed at the governing body's executive committee meeting on Saturday.

"CONCACAF has received the official requests from the Panamanian Football Federation and Costa Rican Football Federation and will review them carefully," it read.

"The confederation takes these claims extremely seriously and will look into them immediately.

"As a first step toward addressing the request, this matter has been added to the agenda of tomorrow's CONCACAF Executive Committee meeting for discussion."

Salt into Panama's wounds was CONCACAF handed down two-match bans to Luis Tejada - who saw red in the first half against Mexico on Wednesday - and goalkeeper Jaime Penedo, who was sanctioned for a shove on an assistant referee following the final whistle.

Tejada's ban for his straight red was increased from the automatic one match to two matches, after he showed dissent by taking about four minutes to leave the playing field.

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