Mexico – Guatemala Play to 0-0 Draw in Gold Cup Play in Phoenix

Picture Courtesy of: Mexsport

By Francisco Romero. –  After beating Cuba 6-0 in its opening game of the Gold Cup, Mexico fails to score against Guatemala and has to settle to a 0-0 Draw.

Even with a Guatemalan team that ended with 10 players, El Tri could not score.

Jose Contreras was ejected in the second half. 

“Today we were in the same situation as our last game, we did not score at the right time.  In our last game we scored a lot, but at the same time we missed a lot of opportunities,” said Mexico’s head coach Miguel Herrera.

Guatemala had the first opportunity of the game at the 7^th minute of the first half when a shot from Minor Lopez went awry.

Guatemala’s defense prevented Mexico to getting close to score.

The best chance to score for Mexico came at the 33^rd minute of the first half on a shot from Andres Guardado, but Guatemala’s Goalie Paulo Mota made a great stop.

“I feel satisfied, the team is playing well, the team is doing the right things,” said Herrera after the game.  “The score may not reflect it, that is why we are not satisfied, it doesn’t have the right feeling,” added the head coach.

With the draw Mexico leaves Phoenix in second place in Group C.

“We leave frustrated, frustrated with the result, I feel good about how the team is performing, but not the results,” said Herrera during his postgame conference.

Mexico failed to score for the first time in 32 Gold Cup games, while Guatemala got its second point against the six-time champion in seven all-time meetings in the tournament.

In the other Group C game Trinidad and Tobago beat Cuba 2-0. 

Trinidad and Tobago took first place of the group while Guatemala is in third and Cuba in fourth place.

Mexico will be back in action on Wednesday against Trinidad and Tobago, while the Guatemala will face Cuba.