Javier Aguirre Likes to Get Involved

July 10th, 2009 | by: Daryl |

Who says the Gold Cup isn’t exciting? Last night’s 1-1 draw between Mexico and Panama in Houston had all kinds of drama, including the above moment where Mexico manager Javier Aguirre decided to get more involved in the game and tackle Panama’s Ricardo Phillips mid-dribble.

Phillips was surprised/angry enough to give Aguirre a shove, and then smart enough to very quickly back off when just about the entire Mexican bench jumped up to protect their head coach.

All very exciting, but then it got a bit weird. Referee Joel Aguilar sent both men off, but Phillips refused to go quietly. Or quickly.

It took ten minutes and plenty of persuasion from Panamanian officials, CONCACAF officials and stadium security before Phillips finally departed, and when he did so he was showered with trash from the crowd.

And it didn’t stop there. Apparently the crowd got even more rowdy and referee Aguilar toyed with the idea of abandoning the game only to be overruled by CONCACAF officials.

The good folks at Unprofessional Foul have diligently compiled all the highlights, so pay their post a visit to see what went down.

Tags: Javier Aguirre, Mexico, Panama, Ricardo Phillips, World Football, World Soccer

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Comments

By Matt | July 10th, 2009 at 12:54 pm

That was nice of the Mexican fans to pelt Phillips with beer as he left, and then get into a fight on TV in the stands. Stay Classy, El Tri fans…

By Albo | July 10th, 2009 at 1:13 pm

Not justifying their ways at all, but I think Mexican fans had some good reasons to be upset with the Panamanian players.
Mexico tried to play good football while Panama used their physical strength and size to rough up the smaller players from El Tri.
What Javier Aguirre did was totally wrong though, but at this point, the referee had completely lost control of a game that ended after 100 minutes of the 2nd half, playing 9 against 11 and a coach sent away.
That referee shouldn’t be allowed to do international matches.

Posted from United States

By Dustin | July 10th, 2009 at 2:14 pm

What a Classless Moron.

And Albo, the Mexican Fans are Classless morons too. They’re pissed off that their team might not qualify for World Cup so they get mad and act stupid.

Posted from United States

By Daniel | July 10th, 2009 at 4:24 pm

Aguirre did not attack the Panaman player Ricardo Phillips. Aguirre tried to stop the ball which was out of the field. Phillips was runing after the ball and when he saw Aguirre’s foot in front he pushed Aguirre. There was a misunderstanding and the press has made a great number of it. But there is no evidence to say that Aguirre attacked the player.

By Dustin | July 10th, 2009 at 4:35 pm

Daniel. First off the ball wasn’t off the field when the coach stuck out his foot to kick at the PLAYER. Second the coach shouldn’t be that close to the field he has a box which he must stay in at all times.

Did you even watch the Video? His foot is way up in the air, not anywhere near where the ball was. You’d have to be seriously indoctrinated to believe that sort of BS.

Posted from United States

By James | July 10th, 2009 at 8:00 pm

Let me just say that that game was a complete embarrassment in ever sense. The fans were obnoxious and stupid, the refereeing was aweful as most CONCACAF ref’s are, and really low quality in football.

I’m really ashamed over how the fans acted last night.

Posted from United States

By alex | July 10th, 2009 at 9:10 pm

first of all i’d like to say that im a mexico supporter (barely)…and that shit was just horrible…the game, the refs, the coaching, the players…to all fareness in the first half 2 players from panama should of been red carded…one for cleats to the face (gun on torrado) and the other from a defender stepping on a saba’s leg…and there should of been at least a yellow card on perez for running into the keeper (ochoa) while the ball was heading out of bounds….

second…wtf was augirre thinking???..my god…this guy has coached in europe with osasuna…saving them from the 2nd division and leading them to the top 5 in la liga and champions league….he took altelico madrid to champions league also and at least made them a contender…i guess the anxiety of coming back to mexico and coaching at D level just too much..it was thought that this was our saviour…right…

there is no defending this guy…what the hell was he thinking?…its understandable if he kept his foot down…but that high???…can u imagine if phillips swung at the coach??…unbelievable…seriously…this is just what the mexican national team need….more drama…and like i said before and now….expect it now before….mexico will go down on aug 12…and HARD…

By Al | July 11th, 2009 at 5:50 pm

All of this silly drama and worthless Concacrap tournament stuff just makes me want it to be August 12 already. That will be Mexico’s only chance to make a statement.

Posted from United States

By Tito Champena | July 12th, 2009 at 1:01 pm

Definitely Aguirre tried to kick the Panamenian, his foot was belly high and quite away from the ball. He has his defenders though, who wish to justify his action.

Posted from United States

By Applesauce | July 12th, 2009 at 11:06 pm

In Daniel’s defense, he ‘watched’ the match on Mexican radio.

Serioulsy dude? Seriously?

By Carina | July 14th, 2009 at 2:39 am

I love how the commentators keep on saying that Aguirre got confused… Uhm what did he think he was a player again or something? And I get that Phillips shouldn’t have pushed Aguirre back but then again I would be a liar if I said I wouldn’t do the same… You don’t really ever expect to be challenged by the coach… All I can say is that at the end of the day Aguirre has realized that his team is like a Greek tragedy… So much talent, so little teamwork… Both my parents have always been HUGE supporters of El Tri and even my Dad was disgusted by what happened. I hope El Tri loses on Aug. 15 so that fans and players can stop running their mouths about their superiority over the US….

PS: Aguirre should have been suspended for much longer….

By Ben | July 15th, 2009 at 6:56 pm

Aguirre should be banned for life from international play. There’s no roon in civilized soccer for that crap. It was definitely an intentional kick at the player. Anyone who says he was going for the ball has been sipping a little too much tequila.

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