Football
ESPN staff 8y

Fox Sports features Donald Trump in promotion for U.S.-Mexico game

Fox Sports on Friday used recorded footage of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump in a promotion for the United States-Mexico game set for Saturday night.

The ad was a response to TV Azteca, one of Mexico's leading television networks, which last month used footage from a Trump speech of him saying "Our country is in serious trouble" alongside images of Mexican goals and U.S. disappointments on the field.

Fox's ad instead highlighted American successes alongside clips of Trump saying, "Our country has tremendous people, tremendous potential," "these are the best and the finest" and "bigger, better and stronger, and we will make American great again."

Trump, a leading Republican candidate, has faced criticism for his characterization of Mexicans, though Fox's ad quoted him as saying, "I love the Mexican people," and "they have amazing spirit."

A U.S. Soccer spokesman declined to comment about the video, but a source with knowledge of the ad's origin said that not only did U.S. Soccer have nothing to do with the video's production, it had no knowledge that Fox intended to create such a promo.

The ad received overwhelmingly negative reaction when it was released on Twitter on Friday, with unofficial U.S. fan group American Outlaws writing simply "No" in response, and former U.S. striker Herculez Gomez writing "Go home FoxSoccer, you're drunk #Fail."

Gomez, a Mexican-American, later added:

The winner of Saturday's sold-out game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, will represent the region at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia.

Information from ESPN FC's Jeff Carlisle was used in this report.

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