associationfootball

Utah soccer league to hire security, expels team

The Utah soccer league that saw one of its referees punched by a teen player and sent where to buy soccer cleats into a coma plans to play on — but with security present at games and without the player's team, its president said Friday.


Mario Vasquez, president of La Liga Continental de Futbol, said he'll hire off-duty police officers to watch over games, which will resume this weekend at a middle school in a Salt Lake City suburb. The 17-year-old's adizero f50 team has been expelled from the league.


The referee, Ricardo Portillo, 46, remains in a coma with his f50 adizero trx fg family praying for a miracle. The teenager, whose name is being withheld because he is a minor, is in juvenile detention on suspicion of aggravated assault. The charges could be amplified if Portillo dies.