Mexico head coach Joan Carlos Osorio was handed a six-game suspension by FIFA on Friday, a punishment for his emotional reactions to a contentious refereeing decision during El Tri’s 2-1 loss to Portugal in the third-place game of the Confederations Cup in Russia.
If the ban is upheld, it would rule out the former Chicago Fire and New York Red Bulls boss for the entirety of the Gold Cup, in which Mexico are the defending champions, and possibly subsequent matches if the team does not reach the tournament final.
El Tri play their first Gold Cup game on Sunday night, facing El Salvador at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California (9:30 pm ET | FS1, Univision, UDN in US, TSN1/4 in Canada). Osorio is currently with his team in San Diego as they prepare for the tournament.
“Mr. Osorio used insulting words towards the match officials while displaying an aggressive attitude towards them,” stated FIFA’s announcement. “After taking into account all circumstances of the case, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee has decided that Mr Osorio is regarded as having breached article 49.1 a) of the FIFA Disciplinary Code.”
The aforementioned article falls under the heading of “Misconduct against match officials” and alludes to suspensions of “at least four matches for unsporting conduct towards a match official” by players, coaches or staff members receiving a straight red card.
Osorio has also been handed a warning and a fine of 5,000 Swiss Francs, equivalent to about US $5,182.
