By Steven Herbert / City News Service
Police arrested 15 people at Sunday's CONCACAF Gold Cup soccer doubleheader at the Rose Bowl, including two fans who went onto the field near the end of Panama's 2-1 victory over Mexico.
All but one of the arrests were for misdemeanors, mainly for being drunk in public or ticket scalping, Pasadena Police Department Deputy Chief Darryl Qualls told City News Service.
A fan was hit by a beer can thrown by another fan in the stadium and the alleged thrower was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, a felony, Qualls said.
The two fans who went onto the field were arrested on suspicion of violating a section of Pasadena's municipal code, a misdemeanor, Qualls said.
The arrest total among the crowd announced at 56,822 was "not bad,'' Qualls said.
"When you look at the other events we have here, 15 is an average number,'' Qualls said. ``It was a warm day, so we did have some beer that was consumed by the patrons before they got here and we saw the results of that.''
A few disappointed Mexican fans threw cups and plastic water bottles toward the field near the end of the game and after it ended.
"We tried our best to identify them and if we did, we would take them for a misdemeanor,'' Qualls said.
From a police perspective, the Mexico-Panama game "was one of the better events we've had here,'' Qualls said.
There were additional uniformed officers, bomb-sniffing dogs, "covert resources'' and police helicopters for the doubleheader, which began with Martinique's 1-0 victory over Canada, Pasadena Police Department Chief Phillip L. Sanchez said before the doubleheader.
Sanchez said he wanted fans "to be part of the security solution'' and call police if they saw something suspicions.
"A lot'' of people called the police to report trouble, including giving police, "some information that we used,'' Qualls said.
At halftime of the Mexico-Panama game, the Guinness world record for the largest mariachi performance was set, with 566 performers, breaking the previous mark of 555 set in 2010 in Tucson, Ariz., a CONCACAF official said.
Both games were part of group play in the tournament to determine the men's soccer's regional champion of North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
Substitute Fabrice Reuperne scored three minutes into stoppage time for the only goal of the Canada-Martinique game.
Panama took a 1-0 lead on a seventh-minute penalty kick by Gabriel Torres. Mexico tied the score in the second minute of stoppage time in the first half on Marco Fabian's goal. Torres scored what proved to be the game-winning goal three minutes into the 45-minute second half.
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