Four red cards and homophobic chants marred a chaotic USA win over Mexico on Thursday night.
The clash between the two rivals descended into chaos as temper flared both on the pitch and in the stands as the USA reached the CONCACAF Nations League final.
Two goals from Christian Pulisic and an effort from Ricardo Pepi saw them win 3-0.
During the contest, which was also Folarin Balogun’s debut for the nation, saw four players handed red cards before the referee cut the match short after repeated homophobic chants from the crowd.
Fans also threw beer onto the pitch, while the referee also showed a total of eight yellow cards with USA star Weston McKennie’s shirt being ripped during the furious encounter.
Both the USA and Mexico finished the game with nine men after McKennie, Sergino Dest, Cesar Montes and Gerardo Arteaga were sent off.
Play was then halted in the 90th minute because of the homophobic chants, leading to 12 minutes of stoppage time when the match resumed, however the game was then stopped when chants resumed eight minutes into added time.
Speaking about the stoppage, US interim coach B.J Callaghan said: “These are rivalry games. These are derby games. Things like this happen across the world and in no way am I embarrassed.
“It comes from a good place. They care about each other so much in that locker room that they’re standing up for each other.
“Sometimes does it have an issue where we take a red card? Yeah, but when you know where it comes from, you can accept it and it’s a learning lesson for us.”
“In terms of the chant, I want to make it very clear first and foremost, for our beliefs and our culture, it has no place in the game. It has no place in our value system.”
