One of the OlyWhites’ Group B opponents has been caught up in a racism row on the eve of the Olympic Games.
Honduras was playing a behind-closed-doors match against Germany when one of its team members allegedly racially abused defender Jordan Torunarigha.
The German team walked off the pitch, refusing to continue.
“The game has ended 5 minutes early with the score at 1-1. The Germany players left the pitch after Jordan Torunarigha was racially abused,” the team posted on Twitter.
“When one of our players is racially abused, playing on is not an option,” Germany’s coach Stefan Kuntz said.
“He was terribly upset because he said he was repeatedly racially abused.
“For us it’s clear, this violates our values, we cannot tolerate it. We’ll take our player completely under our protection. After the situation calmed down a bit, the whole Honduras team came over to us on the bench and apologised.
“That was the end of the matter for us.”
The Honduras Football Federation posted a statement on their Twitter page.
"Game ended in the 87th [minute] due to abandonment because of a German player alleging a racist insult from a Honduras team member. Regarding this matter, the Honduras Football Federation states that the situation was a misunderstanding on the pitch."
Honduras plays New Zealand in Kashima on July 25.
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