It’s probably high time to strip the 2026 World Cup from Mexico.
Once again, fans of Mexico soccer held up the MLS-Liga MX All-Star Game played in Los Angeles thanks to the homophobic chant they just can’t let go of. After they held up games in Olympic qualifying. After they held up games at the CONCACAF Nations League. After they held up games during the Gold Cup. It never stops. So what will make it stop?
What isn’t helping is that FIFA reduced the half-hearted punishment CONCACAF had put on Mexico, reducing two games having to be played behind closed doors during World Cup qualifying to one. And it was a punishment that the Mexican FA had threatened to dump on their women’s team, which doesn’t exactly suggest they “get it.” But then again FIFA is holding the next World Cup in a country where being gay can get you killed, so it’s pretty clear how seriously the world’s governing body takes all this.
I’m screaming at the rain, I know.
Holding up games for 10 minutes hasn’t done anything. No ref has moved on to pulling players off the field, much less making Mexico forfeit a match. That’s the protocol, those three steps, but it’s the protocol in just one match. For some reason, there’s no protocol for multiple matches. Which is why Mexico fans could hold up both the semifinal and final of the Nations League and they’re considered separate offenses. A 10-minute hold up is all we got at the MLS All-Star game.
So make it hurt. Throw them out of the 2022 World Cup, or strip them of hosting duties for 2026. It’s not like the U.S. and Canada can’t host it without Mexico. Sure, it’ll be hypocritical as fuck to throw out Mexico of one of these World Cups while having one in Qatar, but it’s at least a step in the right direction.
I won’t hold my breath, but you’re serious about this or you’re not.