Two-goal Hero, Herrera, Averted Racial Slur against Eagles in Los Angeles
But for pre-match communication of e¡ican star, Hector Herrera, most of the 53,258 crowd at the
e¡ico Ś-0 defeat of Nigeria early hours of Sunday would have been making racial slur against the Super aglesȂ players.
According to a report by The Orange County Register, a daily newspaper published in California, the crowd, largely composed by e¡icans had planned homophobic chants throughout the match which had the arenaȂs ęrst full capacity since the coronavirus pandemic
oments before the match, Hector Herrera who later scored two goals, stood with his teammates at the centre circle to oěer one more reminder.
As Herrera echoed a message that was unmissable on the grounds throughout the evening — chanting a homophobic slur that had long been part of the ritual of e¡ican menȂs national team matches can only bring negative consequences for the team they love — the largest crowd in the city since pandemic restrictions were lifted on June 15 fell as quiet as it got all night.
When Herrera wrapped up his comments the sort of unmistakable roar that only occurs when people congregate in such large numbers rose from the stands.
For Herrera, the e¡ican national team, and Soccer United
arketing, which organized the e¡Tour series, the event went oě without any notable malintent from the fans.
The chant that plagued e¡ican soccer has been inaudible from the stands since FIFA announced a ęne and a two-match ban on spectators for competitive matches in e¡ico last month.
Early hours of yesterday, match oĜcials were not presented with a scenario in which they were required to stop the action or take players oě the ęeld as part of FIFAȂs anti-discriminatory protocol that was instituted in 2019.
Instead, two minutes after the game began, Herrera quickly lifted the crowd once more by beating Nigerian goalkeeper Bobo Stanley Nwabili for the ęrst of e¡icoȂs four goals in a shutout victory.
Fielding a squad of primarily domestic players, Nigeria remained winless all-time against e¡ico ǻ0-2-ŚǼ.
In the Śth minute, e¡ico had Nigeria scrambling and a ball over the top by Jesus Corona found Hirving Lozano, who dished it to goal scorer Rogelio Funes ori.
he e¡ican faithful cheered and screamed as Herrera hoped they would, and by the seventh minute the crowd came together for its ęrst wave around the Coliseum.
Herrera did his part to keep up the positive spirit by cleaning up a saved shot from outside the 18 yard bo¡, giving him a brace and e¡ico a 3-0 lead in the 52nd minute. The 31-year-old midęelder who plays professionally for Atletico adrid earned P honors.