There is a feeling among Mexican soccer fans that when the National Team or any team from the country faces a South American team in a transcendental match, as Tigres will do against River Plate in a few hours, the referee influences in favor of the Conmebol members, as there are precedents that make them think that way.
The first participation of Mexico in a Copa America was in the Ecuador 1993 edition and their debut was against Colombia in Group C. The match was three minutes away from concluding when the Uruguayan referee Jorge Nieves validated an action in which it is perceived that the ball did not enter the Mexican goal after a shot by forward Victor Aristizabal that ended up giving the victory to the Colombians by 2-1.
Four years later, in the Bolivia 1997 edition, the Tri faced the host team in one of the tournament's semifinals. Nicolas Ramirez scored for the team then led by Bora Milutinovic, but controversy arose shortly after when the Paraguayan referee Epifanio Gonzalez did not call a foul inside the Bolivian area on Luis Hernandez and later the locals equalized after a free kick by Erwin "Platini" Sanchez that apparently did not fully cross the goal line. Bolivia scored two more goals and advanced to the final of the Copa America, where they lost by the same score against Brazil.
Regarding Mexican clubs in the Copa Libertadores or Copa Sudamericana, there are also bad memories of what are called the men in black. Perhaps the most significant is the elimination of Santos at the hands of River Plate in the round of 16 of the 2004 Copa Libertadores, when after drawing 2-2 on aggregate, the tie had to be defined in a penalty shootout, in which Paraguayan referee Carlos Torres inexplicably decided to repeat the third penalty by the Argentine team after it had already been stopped by Santos goalkeeper Cristian Lucchetti in the first attempt. River won the penalty shootout by 4-2 in front of their fans at the Monumental Stadium.
The following year, Pumas played the final of the Copa Sudamericana against Boca Juniors. It was in the second half of the match, tied at one goal at that moment, when in a counterattack by the felines, Boca goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri came out of his area and collided with Ismael Iniguez, but another Paraguayan referee (Carlos Amarilla) only showed him a yellow card to the also goalkeeper of the Argentine National Team at that time, a play that marked the course of the game, which ended up being defined in a penalty shootout, where Abbondanzieri was the one who took and scored the last and definitive penalty, giving Boca Juniors the title.
In 2007, America played against Arsenal de Sarandi in the final of the Copa Sudamericana; the Argentines won the first leg played at the Azteca Stadium by 3-2, while in the second leg the Eagles beat the South Americans by 2-1 in Buenos Aires, which meant that the match had to be defined in a penalty shootout after a 4-4 draw on aggregate; however, the Conmebol changed the rules at the last moment, informing that for the first time in the history of the finals of that competition, away goals counted double, thus crowning the Argentine club.
These and other scenes are in the memory of the Mexican fans, who hope that tonight in the second leg final of the Copa Libertadores between River Plate and Tigres, Uruguayan referee Dario Ubriaco does not become a factor for or against the feline team.