The United States suffered a painful defeat in the Gold Cup final against Mexico on Sunday night, losing 2–1 despite striking first and picking up an early lead just four minutes into the game.
One moment during the second half had USMNT fans irate, as a controversial decision from referees took away a potential penalty for the Americans. In the 67th minute, left back Max Arfsten attempted to dribble inside the box when the ball was stolen by Jorge Sanchez, who got in the way of the ball while going down on one knee.
While trying to regain balance and get back to his feet, Sanchez inadvertently put his hand directly on the ball, which had deflected in front of him after his interception. Naturally, the U.S. was bargaining for a penalty, but referees deemed the hand ball to be accidental and thus opted against calling a penalty.
Should this have been called a handball? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/nqlOWRI53F
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 7, 2025
Mexico would break the deadlock and take a 2–1 lead just 10 minutes later.
It's a situation that's similar to one seen in the Premier League back in 2023, when Arsenal's Martin Ødegaard was falling to the ground and hit the ball with his hand on the way down. Both the on-field referee and VAR ruled it was not a penalty due to the accidental nature of the contact. It was later determined that both officials made a mistake, and a penalty was, in fact, warranted.
In this case, however, Sanchez didn't make any movements after coming in contact with the ball, which seems to have been a factor in referees not calling a penalty.
USMNT fans were irate over the decision from referees in Sunday's Gold Cup final, and they took to social media to air their grievances over what many felt should've been a penalty.
How is this not a hand ball penalty on Mexico????? pic.twitter.com/GJm1rcc0rR
— Tedd Buddwell 🏀🏈 (@TedBuddy8) July 7, 2025
Reminder that no handball was given for this. pic.twitter.com/I382LRkAbM
— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) July 7, 2025
Straight up handball. Straight up penalty here.
— FARMERS LIGUE 𝕏 (@farmersliguepod) July 7, 2025
Concacaf 🤝 Ref 🤝 Mexico #USMNT #GoldCupFinal
pic.twitter.com/JqfehaDkUh
Hand was on the ball in the box, no penalty.
— Favian Renkel (@FavianRenkel) July 7, 2025
This continues to be the biggest grey area in all of sports. https://t.co/JIiBvHsR3z
So the USA loses the whole Gold Cup because they can't call this a handball even with a VAR / Replay system?#USMNT
— Knicks Memes (@KnicksMemes) July 7, 2025
pic.twitter.com/IDTtRRcJ4P
Gold cup final is one of the worst reffed games I’ve ever seen. Blatant missed handball and last goal scored on a free kick from a touch foul when the refs are letting Mexico get away with murder. Terrible. #USMNT
— Bobby Wood (@bobbewould) July 7, 2025
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as USMNT Fans Were Furious Over Controversial No-Call in Gold Cup Final Loss to Mexico.
