Mexico won its eighth Gold Cup on Sunday, defeating Panama 1-0 courtesy to a late goal from Santiago Giménez only four minutes after he was introduced.
Panama got out to a fast start, spending most of the first half in the attacking third, including a second-minute combination play from Adalberto Carrasquilla and Ismael Daz, but the tide shifted halfway through the first half. Mexico had its greatest scoring opportunity of the game in the 43rd minute, when Luis Romo and Jorge Sánchez took one after the other from close range, but Panama custodian Orlando Mosquera made point-blank saves to preserve the score equal at halftime.
Mexico, on the other hand, started to seize control of the game in the second half, even though a go-ahead goal was difficult to come by. El Tri started to control the game by the 60th minute and came close to scoring when Uriel Antuna’s header was saved by Mosquera. Later in the half, Panama had several offensive spurts, but Mexico’s defence handled them with ease.
Some of Mexico’s greatest opportunities came on either side of an odd decision in the 63rd minute, when referee Hector Martinez sent Panama’s Harold Cummings a second yellow card for what seemed to be a foul on Orbeln Pineda. Martinez immediately rescinded the sentence, and the match restarted.
Giménez scored in the 88th minute to give the champs the lead. Pineda crossed the ball to the 22-year-old, who sprinted into the centre of the box and beat Mosquera. Mexico almost had a nervous finale when they conceded a freekick in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time, but the effort was cleared.
During a gruelling summer, Mexico’s Gold Cup win brings some respite. After losing 3-0 against the United States men’s national team in the Nations League semifinals, the squad sacked head coach Diego Cocca after just seven games in charge. Jaime Lozano took over as temporary coach during the continental tournament and may consider his first significant duty a success.
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