Fue Penal or No Fue Penal? A VICE Sports Debate

Aaron "Mitt4FIFA" Gordon: Ok, Jorge. Since you are VICE Sports' resident Mexican, we need to talk about what happened in the 122nd minute of Mexico's Gold Cup match against Costa Rica last night, because it was some bullshit. The referee, Walter Lopez, called an extremely suspect penalty on Costa Rican defender Roy Miller for doing something to Oribe Peralta as he went to head the ball, which sailed well over his head. The call came mere seconds before the match would have gone to penalties. A vast majority of observers—biased in their own ways, of course—criticized Lopez for the call. What say you, El Tri supporter?

Jorge "Donald Trump" Arangure: Listen, I'm not going to sit here and say that the nudge or push on Peralta by Miller merited a penalty call. At best, it was a dubious ruling. But this is sports, and sometimes questionable calls happen in the heat of the moment. You have to look at it from an official's point of view. Would the fallout have been more severe had Peralta been legitimately pushed in the box and the official had made no call? Mexican fans would have been outraged and the controversy would have been over a non-call. Officials are human and they get caught up in the emotions of the match. It's silly to pretend these scenarios don't play out in their head. And let's give Peralta some credit here too. That was an excellent dive. He contorted his body in a Matrix-style way to leave the official with the perception that he had been pushed. He even crawled on the ground in apparent agony for a few moments after he had fallen to the ground just to sell the call.

Aaron "Mitt4FIFA" Gordon: A referee who can't spot a dive is as useful as a politician who can't lie. Upon repeated viewings, Peralta's Neo-esque body weave was much less impressive than it seemed in full motion; he simply threw his legs up in the air rather than keep them positioned so that he could land on them. It's not that difficult to fall if that's what you're after!

I don't want to stress the replay too much in evaluating the referee's decision, since he didn't have that benefit. But, putting myself in his shoes, as you so humbly suggest, he has to know they were mere seconds from the game being decided by penalty kicks, so any foul must be blatant and goal-denying. If he doesn't know those things or isn't taking them into account, then any difference between incompetence and nefariousness is an academic differentiation.

I do, however, want to address your point about the heavily pro-Mexican crowd. The best working theory on why home field is such a consistent advantage across every sport is because of this exact situation: the crowd influencing referees on a subconscious level. As the Freakonomics people put it, "officials don't consciously decide to give the home team an advantage — but rather, being social creatures (and human beings) like the rest of us, they assimilate the emotion of the home crowd and, once in a while, make a call that makes a whole lot of close-by, noisy people very happy." So maybe that's all we're seeing here? Just good ol' delicious home-cookin?

Jorge "Donald Trump" Arangure: Listen, Trump was right. Mexicans have taken over. We are everywhere. We now own your most populous state, or should I say, we've gotten it back. We have invaded your office buildings, your schools, and now your stadiums. So yes, it's fair to suggest that a match in New Jersey can still be considered a home-field advantage for Mexico. To your point, I do think the official must have felt some kind of pressure from the pro-Mexico crowd.

I must again point out that by no means do I think it was a correct penalty call. But let's be real here. Mexico was the better team on Sunday. They were far more aggressive offensively than Costa Rica, who at times appeared content to sit back and defend. If Carlos Vela hadn't reverted back to his Arsenal self then maybe Mexico would have scored two or three goals in the match. So when you put yourself in a position to score goals, chances are that you may end up getting a favorable call in the box. And that's what happened here. You put yourself in the best position to succeed and then maybe you'll get the benefit of the doubt. So there was no grave injustice done here. Based on how the game played out, Mexico deserved to win the match. It's just unfortunate that it had to happen in such a controversial way.

Of course all these points I bring up about the heat of the moment and how officials are also human do not apply to last year's knockout round match in the World Cup between Mexico and the Netherlands. Because obviously Arjen Robben's clear dive should not have been rewarded. That was bullshit. And seriously, fuck Robben. #NoFuePenal. (Yes, I do realize the more popular hashtag was the #NoEraPenal, but we're being grammatically correct here.)

Aaron "Mitt4FIFA" Gordon: Indeed, Trump was right. Mexicans are a vengeful people.