U.S. Soccer to Test Anti-Gay Protocol During Upcoming Mexico Match

U.S. Soccer's game against Mexico marked the start of a new era for the U.S. Soccer Federation.

As reported by ESPN, it will be the first match with the federation's new bans on discriminatory chanting policy in effect. How exactly those chants will be tapered will be put to the test when the two rival teams face-off.

The took place at at StateFarm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Wednesday night and the USSF is reportedly very serious about cutting down the toxic rhetoric that floats across the field between opposing fans.

"At issue has been the anti-gay slur in Spanish that fans yell at games when there is an opposition goal kick," ESPN reports. "That slur is a vulgar insult that is considered offensive toward the LGBTQIA+ community."

Since the 2014 World Cup, the Mexican football federation (FMF) has been repeatedly fined by FIFA due to the prevalence of the chant during Mexico's matches. Despite numerous public announcements by the FMF about the chant, fans continue to use it.

Last January, FIFA fined FMF $108,000 after fans began the chant at the 2022 World Cup "during El Tri's games against Saudi Arabia and Poland," ESPN reports. In one case, FIFA also punished Mexico by forcing them to play their 2021 qualifier match against Jamaica without fans.

"We wanted to take leadership on this issue, and lead the world on this," said John Collins, USSF board member. "We wanted to do the right thing. At some point, people have to put principles over profit."

The discriminatory chant policy, however, applies to international matches and not domestic league games.

With the new policy in effect, the team with offending fans could be prohibited from playing an international match in the United States for a period of two years. "A second violation shall result in a five-year ban from playing an international match in the United States," ESPN reports. "A third violation shall result in a permanent ban. A similar ban, as well as forfeiture of a performance bond, is issued to third-party match promoters if it is deemed that they didn't do enough to prevent discriminatory chanting."

It sounds like the U.S. Soccer Federation is putting its foot down on offensive fans.

What do you think of the new policy? Tell us in comments.