Hamburg’s Immanuel Pherai speaks on CONCACAF Nations League affair allegedly marred by racial abuse

Hamburg’s Immanuel Pherai speaks on CONCACAF Nations League affair allegedly marred by racial abuse Hamburg midfielder Immanuel Pherai has described Suriname’s recent CONCACAF Nations League defeat in Guatemala as “the worst match of my career” after alleging widespread racist abuse and violence surrounding the fixture. Speaking after returning to Hamburg, Pherai told Kicker that problems began before Tuesday night’s 1-0 defeat in Guatemala City. “I’ve never experienced anything like that,” Pherai said. “If you take the circumstances into account, it was the worst match of my career so far.” The Amsterdam-born midfielder, who represents his father’s homeland after previously playing for the Netherlands at youth level, made his 15th senior international appearance in the match. According to Pherai, Suriname encountered problems from the day before the fixture. Pherai alleges racist abuse from Guatemala crowd “There was already some harassment the day before the game,” the 25-year-old said. “For example, we weren’t allowed to train in the stadium and there was noise made outside the hotel the night before the game.” Pherai said whistles during Suriname’s pitch inspection remained within what the team had expected from a hostile away environment. He felt matters crossed a line during the national anthem. “With the whistles and heckling during our national anthem, it became unsporting and disrespectful,” Pherai said. “Then, from kickoff, it felt like 25,000 people were shouting ‘Negro, Negro, Negro.'” The situation deteriorated further following the dismissal of Suriname striker Richonell Margaret in the 63rd minute. “Our player was sent off and then there was everything directed at him: insults, bottles being thrown, monkey noises,” Pherai said. “As teammates, we couldn’t and wouldn’t accept that. We went to the referee and told him that it wasn’t okay.” Late Guatemala winner followed by mass confrontation Guatemala eventually won through Matt Evans’ goal in the sixth minute of stoppage time. The final whistle brought another escalation as players became involved in a mass confrontation. Pherai acknowledged that emotions had contributed to what followed. “Everyone was involved in that situation,” Pherai said in comments also carried by transfermarkt.de . “Of course, in a situation like that you always have to think twice about your behaviour when emotions are running high. We could all have behaved better, but I would never accept my teammates being attacked.” GGFN  |  Peter Weis