Mexico Conquers Gold Cup Amid Controversy

Picture Courtesy of Mexsport

By Francisco Romero. – At the end of the day the Gold Cup turned out as it was expected; 68,930 fans in attendance at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia and a 3-1 Mexico victory over Jamaica in the Final.

Mexico won a record seventh Gold Cup.

With the win Mexico will face the 2013 Gold Cup winner, the US Men’s National team, for a chance to play in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.

The game against Jamaica was Mexico’s best performance of the tournament, but a dark cloud will follow it for a long time due to the game against Panama where the officiating crew blew a call towards the end of the game (handball) that paved the way for a Mexico win.

Jamaica got to the final game by surprisingly beating the US Men’s National team.

“It was a well-thought-out game,” said Mexico’s head coach Miguel “El Piojo” Herrera.  “We faced a great rival in Jamaica and I would like to congratulate them,” he added.

Andres Guardado, Jesus Corona and Oribe Peralta scored for Mexico. 

Andres Guardado was the Golden Ball winner; he finished the tournament with six goals.

Darren Mattocks scored the lone goal for Jamaica at the 80^th minute of play.

Although Herrera was happy about the victory and the way his team played he mentioned that this is only one step towards their objective, “We have to think about what is ahead of us,” he said.  We will start competing in November for the right to go to the next World Cup.”

The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) announced that Mexico and the US Men’s National Team will face each other on October 9^th in the playoff match for the right to represent the area in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.  The game will be played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA.