Unruly behavior mars Mexico's 2-1 win over Panama in Gold Cup semifinal

Unruly fans showering opposing players with garbage. A questionable penalty being called. Teams clashing on the touchline. And then the losing team, led by its embarrassing head coach, charging the referee after the final whistle.

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All of that madness actually occurred between Panama and Mexico in a match that was more despicable display than Gold Cup semifinal at Atlanta's Georgia Dome. In the end, El Tri walked off the field 2-1 winners over the 10-man Panamanians to advance to Sunday's final against Jamaica, but the big loser was CONCACAF, which suffered another black eye after having its reputation permanently stained by the recent FIFA corruption scandal.

Captain Andres Guardado converted two penalties to complete Mexico's comeback from a 1-0 deficit created by Roman Torres's 57th-minute goal. Unfortunately, the aforementioned lowlights dominated the game as well as the postmatch discussion.

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The craziness escalated to WWE levels when Panama, playing a man down due to Luis Tejada's 25th-minute red card, entered the 89th minute clinging to its one-goal lead. Torres was called for a handball in the box by referee Mark Geiger, and the controversial decision set off a sequence of shameful displays that caused an 11-minute delay to restore what passed for order.

Shortly after Geiger's handball call, tempers boiled over and the two sides clashed near the benches. The confrontation resulted in pushing and shoving and more debris being thrown from the stands.

In the first period of extra time, Mexico was awarded another penalty when Geiger ruled that Panama defender Harold Cummings fouled a hard-charging Javier Orozco in the box. Guardado calmly beat goalkeeper Jaime Penedo to give Mexico the 2-1 lead.

When Geiger blew the final whistle, Panama coach Hernan Gomez hobbled as quickly as he could to the middle of the field to confront the American referee.

Someone had to emerge a winner, but Mexico can hardly feel like one. Even though El Tri are moving on to their eighth Gold Cup final, Miguel Herrera still hasn't solved the problems plaguing his team, especially its limp attack. Forwards Carlos Vela and Oribe Peralta, once again, came up empty and have not scored since the Mexicans' tournament-opening rout of Cuba.