The United States men’s national soccer team suffered a tough 2-1 loss to Panama on Thursday… and some fans crossed the line by expressing their frustrations with the result, forcing the organization to address racist comments made to your players.
Following the Copa América defeat — which now makes Monday’s game against Uruguay a must-win for the Red, White and Blue — some fans took to social media to launch nasty reactions at the players.
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The men’s team wasted no time in defending its lineup… releasing a statement shortly after the competition to denounce the hateful behavior.
The statement did not specify which players received the hate… but the 22-year-old forward Folarin Balogun and 24-year-old defender Chris Richards shared messages they received on their respective Instagram accounts.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time that racism has had to be addressed at the Copa América — following Canada’s 2-0 defeat to Argentina, one of their players had a similar experience. Like Team USA, the team did not specify the player… but many noted racist comments being made in the 24-year-old defender’s comments section Moses Bombitoposts by.
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The Copa America’s governing body CONMEBOL also responded, saying: “We condemn attitudes of intolerance everywhere and on all occasions, especially those that hide behind social media accounts in any form.”