Let’s unpack this story to be able to get a better sense of its actual validity. Long time Mexican media personality Jose Ramon Fernandez is a known Club America hater. He’s literally made a career out of hating the club, and supporting his beloved Pumas. His most recent claims though seem over the top, even for him! The thing is, over the last two tournaments there has been a ton of controversy surrounding the eventual champion in Liga MX.
While nothing has been directly proven, fans of Liga MX will remember that Atlas got a helping hand from the refs, particularly in their first title run. Jose Ramon claims that there’s essentially been a consensus between the owners of the different clubs across the league, and it’s Club America’s turn to lift the trophy. As we mentioned, Jose Ramon is a known Club America hater so it’s wise to take his words with a grain of salt. Fernandez said on ESPN,
“It’s America’s “turn” to be champion. I’ve said this before there are arrangements in Mexican football… Have you forgotten what happened with Atlas, and Pumas in their first title? Maybe it was just Atlas’ turn after 70 years of waiting.”
Have Club America Been Helped Out By The Refs This Season?
We’ve only talked about the refs a couple of times in the last month, in one instance though it was Club America on the right side of a bad referee decision. This took place during their game against Santos where they got a little extra time to tie the game 3 a piece. The result ultimately ended the winning streak that the team had anyway. Chivas fans may be quick to point out that there’s a play in “El Clasico”, where Ochoa makes a save from inside his own net. We’ll get to that serious issue though here in a bit.
Other than those two instances though, Club America have been clearly superior to the teams that they’ve defeated throughout the tournament. There were actually teams like Toluca that found themselves on the right side of a referee error a suspicious number of times this season. Even the biggest America haters would have to admit that trying to disregard their accomplishments in the current season by chalking their wins up to the refs is ludicrous. The scary thing is, there’s a true conflict of interest with Club America being owned by the TV company that provides the images to the VAR truck!
Club America Could Directly Impact The “Fairness” Of Their Home Games If They Wanted To
Jose Ramon Fernandez’s claims may not have been made just out of thin air. As we mentioned there is a conflict of interest when the people that are providing the video for VAR refs to look at, own a team that is playing in the match. It’s not just their home games that they could influence. A pretty good number of teams have their games broadcasted by Televisa, who own Club America. Now, to be fair to Club America, since VAR was first used regularly in Liga MX they’ve only one the title once. That was coincidentally back in 2018 when VAR was first introduced mid-way to the season. In those finals though, Cruz Azul players had only themselves to blame for the loss.
Here’s where that Ochoa play in “El Clasico” may come up to cast doubt on how things are run. At the time Chivas supporters questioned the lack of a TV shot that allowed them to definitely determine whether the ball was in or not. We sincerely hope that the next Liga MX champion wins the title without any controversy, those last two Atlas wins were just too much to handle. Do you believe the claims made by Jose Ramon?
