The American soccer league is investigating allegations of racial abuse towards a player during a game.
Major League Soccer has confirmed it will 'promptly' look into an incident during a match between D.C. United and Inter Miami last Sunday (18 September). Watch Inter Miami CF coach Phil Neville address the claims:
Claims have been made that Taxi Fountas, D.C. United forward, used a racial slur toward Damion Lowe, Inter Miami defender, mid-match.
The match was put on pause for a number of minutes while Fountas and Lowe could be seen speaking and were subsequently both issued yellow cards.
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Wayne Rooney, the coach for D.C. United, took Fountas off the pitch shortly after the incident.
According to The Athletic, the head referee of the game, Ismail Elfath reported that the two players received yellow cards due to 'lack of respect of the game' - before the alleged use of the racial slur was reported to officials.
The referee added that the exchange was checked by the VAR and noted that 'no official heard any racist or abusive language.'
The news outlet reports that Inter Miami's DeAndre Yedlin said: “Damion and another player got into a bit of a scuffle,” and that as Lowe walked away, 'one of their guys called him the N-word'.
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In a video posted to Twitter by Inter Miami CF, coach Phil Neville said: "I called the players over, I asked them if they were okay [and] I told them that we were going to stick together, deal with this, that is was unacceptable, that there's no place for racism for me in society let alone on a football field.
"I think the situation was handled really well under difficult circumstances and I've got to say, I don't think I've ever been as proud of my players as I was tonight," Neville concluded.
Neville, who was once teammates with Rooney in Manchester United, praised the coach's decision to pull Fountas from the pitch saying his respect for Rooney 'went up … more than any goal he’s ever scored'.
The post was captioned: "We stand united on and off the field," and was shortly followed by comments made by the team' right-back, DeAndre Yedlin.
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"I think it gives you perspective on life," the soccer player began.
"Sometimes you have to go through adversity to realise how much you truly love each other.
"The way everybody banded together, you can tell we genuinely are a family, we genuinely do care about each other and, at the end of the day, I think we'll be stronger from this," Yedlin added.
The Major League Soccer has since issued a statement that the incident would be investigated 'promptly'.
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They outlined their 'zero tolerance for abusive and offensive behaviour and (they) take these allegations very seriously'.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact Stop Hate UK by visiting their website www.stophateuk.org
Rhiannon Ingle