Mexico Squeezes by Costa Rica 1-0, Advances to Gold Cup Semifinals

Picture Courtesy of: Mexsport

By Francisco Romero. – It took Mexico 123 minutes to score the winning goal against Costa Rica; it was a penalty kick that Andres Guardado sent into the net in overtime.

The victory puts Mexico in the semis where it will face Panama.

Lets go back to the winning goal; it came after a controversial call by the referees at the 123^rd minute of play.  Oribe Peralta went for the ball on an assist from Layun into the box with Costa Rican Roy Miller behind him, Peralta fell and was awarded the penalty kick.

The Costa Rica players and staffed tried to change the referees mind to no avail.

Mexico’s captain Guardado took care of business and the game is now history.

“It was one of those days where the pressure was mounting and we had to win,” said Mexico’s head coach Miguel “El Piojo” Herrera.  “Costa Rica was playing very well down the stretch,” he added.

Clearly, Mexico was the better team, but the score never came during regulation time.   El Tri had plenty of opportunities that were not taken advantage of throughout the game.

“We have not won anything yet,” said Herrera during his post game press conference.  “We played against a very tough rival, we have two more games to play.”

With Sunday night’s victory, Mexico is making a fifth straight trip to the Gold Cup’s semifinals. 

Costa Rica was eliminated in the same stage of the tournament for the third straight time.

The other semifinal game will be played between the United States and Jamaica on Wednesday July 22^nd.

Panama beat Trinidad and Tobago 6-5 on penalty kicks after they finished on a 1-1 tie.

This is Panama’s third consecutive semifinal game in the tournament.