Club America manager claims Toronto Police hit his players during tunnel incident

There have been some wild press conferences in BMO Field, but perhaps none more so than Club America manager Miguel Herrera delivered tonight after his side fell 3-1 to Toronto FC. He made a number of headline-grabbing statements, but surely none more shocking than an allegation that his players were assaulted by Toronto police officers during a halftime incident in the locker room area.

He claimed that, after a scuffle began between his players and Toronto FC’s, two police officers hit three of his players.

Greg Vanney, on the other hand, saw the incident differently. He asserted that an America coach was speaking to Sebastian Giovinco as he left the pitch, leading Jonathan Osorio to intervene and stand between them. Vanney then said that the America assistant coach elbowed Osorio in the nose.

All these are extremely serious allegations to level, particularly against law enforcement officers. Herrera said that Concacaf officials had been front-and-centre on the incident, though, so he’s confident there will be an official report.

Herrera’s press conference had a couple of other fascinating quotes, too. He stated (through a translator) that the match officials came to his team before the game to order them to “change their underpants,” because they were the wrong colour. He also attributed much of his team’s performance this evening to an early penalty call, which he claimed conditioned his players’ mindset for the remainder of the match.

Vanney didn’t have much else to say on the matter, assuring the media that the matter would be sorted out over the coming days.