Paulo César Wanchope, the head coach of the Costa Rican National Team and former Costa Rican international, went bezerk and got into a fight with security in the stands in Panama.
The Costa Rican U-23 was playing a UNCAF pre-olympic qualifier and Wanchope appears to to be in the stands at the time of the incident. It looks like the game had just ended and Paulo Wanchope tried to make his way into the pitch, but not before slamming a swinging gate door on an onlooker and appearing to be pushed into the path of a ballboy.
As he does this a security guard (first thought to be a fan), the man in the black shirt, appears to push Wanchope as he didn’t take too kindly to the head coach’s aggressive attitude which led to a confrontation between the two and prompted the security guard to kick Wanchope and a scrap ensued.
Both men grappled with each other until they ended up on the seats. Promptly, the authorities arrived to try and restore peace and that is where the video of the incident ends.
Take a look for yourselves at video taken by a fan who got a front row seat to catch everything blow by blow.
En duelo de la UNCAF previo al Preolímpico Paulo Wanchope de #CostaRica tiene altercado con Guardia de Seguridad pic.twitter.com/rF2zNSTPLW
— Telemundo Deportes (@TelemundoSports) August 12, 2015
Truly a sad incident in the beautiful game and with national team coaches already having been sacked for showing off their pugilistic skills in public, we will have to see what the Costa Rican FA will decide what punishment is sufficient for Wanchope.
In my opinion, he should be immediately fired for his actions as 1. He should never lose his cool in that manner and 2. He is the embodiment of leadership and success for the nation, having played in Manchester City, and with this transgression he brought shame to all of Costa Rica.
UPDATE: ESPN FC among other outlets report that Paulo Wanchope has resigned due to the fight. He joins former Mexico manager Miguel Herrera as managers out of a job due to getting into altercations.
