Tag: Mexico

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OLYMPICS 2020: MEXICO BEAT JAPAN TO CLAIM FOOTBALL BRONZE MEDAL

Mexico eased to the bronze medal in the men’s Olympic football tournament with a 3-1 victory over hosts Japan at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama on Friday.

First-half goals from Francisco Cordova and Johan Vasquez put El Tri in control and Alexis Vega added a third after the break before Kaoru Mitoma got a late consolation in a repeat of the 1968 bronze medal match, which Japan won in Mexico City.

Mexico, beaten on penalties by Brazil in their semifinal, were ahead within 13 minutes after Vega was fouled by Wataru Endo. Following a VAR review, the penalty decision was upheld and Cordova sent Japan goalkeeper Kosei Tani the wrong way to open the scoring.

Cordova then turned provider as his free kicks led to headed goals from Vasquez, on 22 minutes, and, on 58 minutes, Vega to put Mexico in total control.

Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa pulled off a stunning stop to Mitoma pulling a goal back on 75 minutes as Japan piled on the pressure but the Kawasaki Frontale striker eventually did find the back of the net with an emphatic strike three minutes later.

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OLYMPICS 2020: BRAZIL BEAT MEXICO ON PENALTIES TO REACH FOOTBALL FINAL

Brazil beat Mexico 4-1 on penalties in their men’s Olympic football semifinal in Saitama on Tuesday following a 0-0 draw after extra-time.

The match was a repeat of the London 2012 Olympic final, which Mexico won 2-1.

Brazil, the holders having won gold in their home Olympics in 2016, had the better of the first half, but the second failed to live up to expectations.

Richarlison came close to winning it in normal time when he hit the post with a header from a Dani Alves cross.

The game went to extra time and, while Brazil looked more likely to break the deadlock, the match finished goalless after 120 minutes and it went to spot kicks.

Dani Alves scored Brazil’s first penalty before Eduardo Aguirre saw his spot kick saved. Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli then put Brazil 2-0 ahead with a cool penalty and Mexico’s second effort through Johan Vasquez hit the post.

Bruno Guimaraes stepped up and put Brazil in total control before Carlos Rodriguez got Mexico on the board. With the scores at 3-1, Reiner knew a goal would clinch it for Brazil and made no mistake.

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US BEAT MEXICO AET IN THRILLING GOLD CUP FINAL

Miles Robinson headed home an extra-time winner as the United States beat Mexico 1-0 in the 2021 Gold Cup final Sunday night at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Matt Turner made a stellar save just after 10 minutes — his 20th of the tournament — from a goal-bound Rogelio Funes Mori header to keep the score level early.

The U.S. missed a great chance to take the lead at 25 minutes when, after dispossessing Mexico in its own half, Sebastian Lletget sprang Paul Arriola in the area, but his shot came back off the post with only the keeper to beat.

Despite having the better of the shots and possession, Mexico failed to score as a scrappy U.S. side went into halftime tied 0-0.

Orbelin Pineda wasted two opportunities to put Mexico in front to start the second half: one from a wide-open shot in the penalty area and the second from close range on a ball in from the right flank.

The U.S. was undeterred though, and Matthew Hoppe had two good chances blocked away by the Mexican defense, while Arriola had a shot on the doorstep impossibly stopped by El Tri keeper Alfredo Talavera as the second half progressed.

A thrilling end to regular time saw both sides fashion decent chances without scoring and the game headed to extra time.

The extra 30 minutes continued the theme of the game: Plenty of action but no goals, until Robinson hooked on to a Kellyn Acosta free kick in the 117th minute and beat Talavera to give the U.S. a massive win.

The U.S., which secured its seventh Gold Cup title, beat Mexico in the inaugural CONCACAF Nations League final with a Christian Pulisic extra-time winner on June 6 in the teams’ last meeting.

“All losses are painful, especially in circumstances like these,” Mexico manager Gerardo Martino said after the match. “I believe we’ve competed well against the United States. We had really great moments in our favor tonight. This loss shouldn’t be a catastrophe for the team, of course it hurts, but we’ll look to improve.

“It’s true we lost two finals, and it’s true we’ve lost those games on set pieces, but I don’t see why we should change our style of play.

“We didn’t prepare this team for 2.5 years to play one way [in the Nations League and Gold Cup] and then to play a different way in the qualifiers.”

The U.S. went into the match Sunday as the underdog because many of its top players from the Nations League tourney were not on the Gold Cup roster so they could prepare for their European seasons.

In fact, there were only three holdovers from the Nations League tournament compared to Mexico fielding eight starters Sunday, who also played in the Nations League final.

“We were aware that [the United States] could hurt us on set pieces and they did, again,” Mexico veteran Hector Herrera said. “I don’t agree [with the honeymoon with Martino being over]. We have to evaluate ourselves and reload for qualifying. If we win, we’re criticized. If we lose, we’re criticized.

“It definitely hurts [to lose]. But I think we’re calm and we’re good though because we dominated throughout — we just couldn’t score.”

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TOKYO OLYMPICS: MEXICO EASES PAST FRANCE IN OPENING GAME

Gold medal favourites Mexico beat France to win their first Olympic group game 4-1 on Thursday.

Alexis Vega and Francisco Cordova gave Mexico a 2-0 lead in the second half before Andre-Pierre Gignac converted a penalty to give France a foothold in the game again.

Uriel Antuna got a third in the final 10 minutes before Eduardo Aguirre scored in added time to wrap up the game for Jaime Lozano’s side.

It was a relatively depleted side which lined up against Mexico on Thursday with Kylian Mbappe, Eduardo Camavinga, Houssem Aouar and Amine Gouiri not given permission by their clubs to travel to the tournament.

Mexico took advantage of their opponent’s lack of star power and took the lead on 47 minutes when Diego Lainez floated a ball into the box and Vega headed it into the net.

The lead was doubled on 54 minutes by Cordova who hit a low shot into the bottom left corner of the net.

A clumsy foul by César Montes on Randal Kolo Muani in the box drew a penalty for France which Gignac confidently dispatched past Guillermo Ochoa.

Vega assisted Lozano on 80 minutes as he struck a shot into the bottom left of the goal.

Aguirre’s goal on 91 minutes was the most impressive of the day. He dinked around the France defence to power a shot into the upper right hand corner of the net.

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FIFA FINE MEXICAN FA AFTER FAN’S ANTI-GAY CHANTING

FIFA has announced it will fine the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) around $109,000 after anti-gay chants were heard from fans during Mexico’s May 29 match against Iceland in Arlington, Texas.

A spokesperson for FIFA confirmed to press men that the fine of 100,000 Swiss francs for this latest round of punishment would not include other sanctions such as banning fans from future El Tri matches.

In June, Mexico was ordered to play its next two official home games behind closed doors, after the presence of the anti-gay chant throughout the CONCACAF pre-Olympic qualifying tournament in Guadalajara, Jalisco, last April.

“The chant is discriminatory and is moving us away from FIFA competitions,” Mexican federation president Yon de Luisa said in response to the match ban during a news conference in June. “To those who think it’s fun to [do it], I have news for you. It’s not.”

The Mexican federation has been hit with 16 fines for the chant since 2015, paying just over $336,000 since the first instance. During the match on May 29 vs. Iceland, FIFA’s three-step protocol against discrimination was put into action after fans repeatedly directed an anti-gay slur at Iceland goalkeeper Runar Runarsson after goal kicks.

The protocol’s first step calls for public-address announcers at the stadium to call on fans to cease the discriminatory action. The second step allows the referee to temporarily halt the match in case of a recurrence, and the third step can result in match abandonment.

In Arlington, referee Ted Unkel was prompted to stop the game momentarily at the 62nd minute, though the match was ultimately allowed to finish, resulting in a 2-1 victory for Mexico.

Though the FMF was spared a more serious penalty this time around, more recent instances of the chant at games could still result in added punishments.

In June, the chant was clearly heard at Mexico’s CONCACAF Nations League semifinal and final matches against Costa Rica and the United States, respectively.

On July 10, during El Tri’s Gold Cup opener versus Trinidad and Tobago, the chant persisted even after the first two steps of FIFA’s protocol were enforced.

At a news conference on Wednesday, Liga MX officials announced that the upcoming Apertura 2021 league season will be renamed “Grita … Mexico 2021” as part of a campaign to curb the chant’s usage across Mexican soccer. Liga MX head Mikel Arriola urged fans to instead shout out their team’s name on goal kicks, while warning that clubs could face sanctions or closed door matches if the chant persisted.

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MEXICO THRASH HOME BASED EAGLES 4-0 IN PREPARATION FOR CONCACAF GOLD CUP

Mexico eased past Nigeria 4-0 in Los Angeles on Saturday night in El Tri’s final preparation match ahead of next week’s CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Goals from Rogelio Funes Mori, Jonathan dos Santos, and a Hector Herrera brace, made for a comfortable victory for Mexico in front of 53,258 fans at the Coliseum.

An unmarked Herrera opened the scoring for Mexico within two minutes of the opening whistle, turning in Jesus Corona’s corner at the far post.

Less than 90 seconds later, Mexico were 2-0 up after Funes Mori made the most of Hirving Lozano’s scuffed shot and fired past Nigeria keeper Stanley Nwabali.

Herrera added his second in the 52nd minute before Dos Santos rounded off the night with a controlled finish 12 minutes from time.

Mexico will face off against Curacao, El Salvador and a qualifier are in Group A when the Gold Cup group stage kicks off on July 10. Group B sees the U.S., Martinique, Canada and a qualifier; Costa Rica, Jamaica, Suriname and a qualifier are in Group C; and Grenada, Honduras, Panama and invited guest Qatar are in Group D.

The top two nations in each group advance. The final is Aug. 1 in Las Vegas.

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TEN MAN ALGERIA CLOSES INT’L BREAK WITH HUGE DRAW AGAINST MEXICO

Riyad Mahrez’s Algeria ended an impressive international break with a 2-2 draw against Mexico in The Hague on Tuesday, despite being a man down for much of the second half.

The contest was a rare meeting between Africa Cup of Nations holders and Concacaf Gold Cup holders, but ultimately neither continental representative was able to clinch bragging rights for their confederation.

Diego Lainez struck in the 86th minute for Mexico as they salvaged a draw, having initially taken the lead late in the first half through Jesus Corona.

Algeria responded to his 43rd-minute effort two minutes later, when Ismael Bennacer finished with a fine effort from the edge of the box.

Despite going a man down 10 minutes in the second half when Adlene Guedioura was shown a second booking for a high challenge on Raul Jimenez, Algeria took the lead in the 67th minute as Mahrez finished calmly after Ramy Bensebaini had reacted quickest to lax possession from Mexico, intercepting the play and feeding the Manchester City forward.

By this point, they could have been further ahead, with Baghdad Bounedjah missing a decent chance before his withdrawal, and Yacine Brahimi striking the woodwork.

After equalising through Lainez, meeting a delightful Jimenez pass in style, Mexico could have even gone on to clinch a winner, as both Hector Herrera and Jorge Sanchez struck the crossbar during a frenetic finale.

The draw, coupled with last week’s 1-0 victory over Nigeria, extends Algeria’s undefeated streak to 20 matches the longest such run of any of Africa’s teams.

“It was similar to how we thought it’d be,” Mexico coach Tata Martinez said after the match, “intense, a lot back and forth at times; in different moments Algeria had [control] of the game, in other moments we had.

“It was a good game to make conclusions,” he added. “I thought off the basis of the game it was a fair result.

“I’m satisfied with this tour to Europe. I’m satisfied with what we’ve shown against the Netherlands and Algeria.”

Next month, Algeria will take on Zimbabwe in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying double-header, as they look to return to the continent’s grandest stage to defend the prize they won in 2019.