This early morning, we witnessed the dark side of football in the terrible and regrettable assault suffered by the coach of Mexico and a familiar face in Spanish football, Javier Aguirre, during the match between the Aztecs and Honduras, as reported by Afp. 'El Vasco' ended up with a bloody face and a significant gash on his head after being hit by an object thrown from the stands in the match that the Mexican team lost 2-0 against Honduras in the first leg of the Concacaf Nations League.
After the match at the Francisco Morazán Stadium in San Pedro Sula, with around 20,000 fans, 'El Vasco' Aguirre was passing by a stand from where an object was thrown at him, hitting the left side of his head. Blood was flowing from the impact site, covering part of his face.
"I'm sad because (Aguirre) is a human being," apologized the Honduras coach, Colombian Reinaldo Rueda, at a press conference. "That should not happen. Apologies to the entire Mexican delegation, to all the Mexican people, to Professor Aguirre," he added.
"The party was ruined, all the effort made by the boys on the field was ruined, everyone gave their all with integrity, how the people enjoyed it, and for an incident like that (...) it's very regrettable," Rueda emphasized.
Aguirre, on his part, played down the incident. "It's football, no big deal," he stated at a press conference, where he also expressed his solidarity with the Hondurans affected by the tropical storm Sara hitting the country since Thursday.
FOX Mexico reported that Aguirre "cursed out" the Honduran fans. According to the network, he allegedly said, "Sons of b****es," which "ignited the Honduran fans."
"Unacceptable savagery, with no justification or forgiveness," influential Mexican sports journalist José Ramón Fernández wrote about the incident. "Reprehensible head blow with a beer can," "what's the need to tarnish the result?" he questioned. He called for punishment for the "coward" who did it.
Honduras won the match with a brace from Luis Palma and will play the return leg on November 19 at Nemesio Diez Stadium in Toluca.