“MLS has zero tolerance for any abusive and offensive language and we take these allegations very seriously,” an MLS spokesperson told ESPN. “An investigation into this case will begin soon. Further information will be provided at the end of this. »
The alleged incident happened in the 59th minute of the championship match won by Miami (3-2) on Sunday. A clash during which the Greek Taxiarchis Fountas would have called the Jamaican Damion Lowe a “nigger”, causing the interruption of the meeting by the referee, who, after having warned the two players, spoke with their coaches Wayne Rooney and Phil Neville.
Whereupon, Rooney made it known that he would release Fountas to replace him and kept his commitment as soon as play resumed after several minutes of tense discussions. “It was an unacceptable racist remark. The word is unacceptable, it is the worst word in the world. There is no place for racism on a football pitch. I have to congratulate my players for keeping their composure. I have to congratulate the referee for his handling of a really difficult situation and I have to give credit to Wayne Rooney for handling things the way he did,” Neville reacted after the game.
And to salute Rooney again, whom he knows well for having played with him for a long time, in the jerseys of Manchester United and the England team: “I have always known him as someone who acts with class. He has risen in my esteem again, more than for any goal he has ever scored”. The person concerned did not want to linger, explaining: “there has been a complaint, I am sure that it will be examined. I can’t say much more.”
Taxiarchis Fountas categorically denied having uttered this insult. “I did not use the word of which I am accused. I denounce this despicable racist insult, which I did not utter (…) I am really upset to be wrongly accused, ”he wrote on Twitter. Responding to the press after the game, referee Ismail Elfath claimed that neither he nor his aides heard the word uttered.
