Dirty TackleDutch Cup match momentarily halted after racist chants at Jozy Altidore
AZ Alkmaar's dominant performance at Den Bosch in the quarterfinals of the Dutch Cup was marred by racist chants at American striker Jozy Altidore, prompting officials to momentarily stop play. Down 4-0 and with two Den Bosch players shown straight red cards within the first hour of play, the home fans were feeling nasty and reportedly aimed monkey chants at AZ's Altidore and threw bottles.
From Reuters:
Referee Reinold Wiedemeijer spoke to club officials when the chanting broke out in the first half and instructed second-tier Den Bosch to put a message over the public address system, warning the crowd he would stop the match if the abuse carried on.
Altidore had scored his career-high 20th goal of the season by converting a penalty in the 39th minute and when the referee ordered both teams off the pitch in the second half, the 23-year-old urged them to play on.
Former U.S. national team midfielder and current AZ Alkmaar director of football Ernie Stewart (speaking in the video above) was at the match and expressed his disappointment in the incident to the press during the stoppage. The suspension of play only lasted a few minutes though, and when the match resumed, AZ added a fifth goal.
UPDATE: Here's Jozy's classy response to what happened...
