Gold Cup - Mexico and Costa Rica in the Semifinals
By Stephen Lars
With a score of 4-0, Mexico was able to defeat Haiti in the Golden Cup quarterfinals. With this victory, the tricolor team won its ticket to the semifinals, which will take place on July 23rd.
The Mexican team may have dominated much of the game with constant attacks, approaches into Haiti’s field, and strong plays that brought passion to the match, but the Haitian team managed to scare the Mexicans, leaving the crowd at the edge of its seat, wondering if the Haitians would be the first to open the score.
Despite starting with control of the ball, Mexico showed evidence of offensive and defensive weakness. Javier Aguirre tried to take advantage of the Haitian team by bringing constant offensive attacks, but Haitian goaltender Zephirin Jean-Dominique managed to keep him at bay. Jean-Dominique was even able to block a shot at minute 13, when Alberto Medina, assisted by Miguel Sabah, failed to score while directly in front of the goal.
The Mexicans continued their attempts to make the first goal, but remained unsuccessful until minute 22, when Sabah finally found the determination to score. After his teammate, Israel Castro, kicked a weak shot that was blocked by the Haitian goalkeeper, Sabah managed to intercept the ball and send it back towards Jean-Dominique, sinking it successfully to the bottom of the Haitian’s net.
After their first goal, the Mexicans began to act over-confidently; their arrogance gave the Haitians room to enter the Mexican field area and send powerful shots towards Mexican goaltender Guillermo Ochoa, who, with some difficulty, was able to deflect them.
The match held the same tone until minute 41, when Giovani Dos Santos made his presence felt by scoring the second goal for Mexico.
The match took a turn in the second half when the Haitians took control of the ball, with the Mexicans continuing to show problems in their defense. This turn of events gave much more work to Ochoa, who had to defend his goal with greater intensity. However, Ochoa did not stumble; he even managed to wrap up a direct shot by Fabrice Noel at minute 48.
The Mexican players enjoyed a moment of glory at minute 62, when Sabah headed a corner kick by Dos Santos into the Haitian net. The score rose to 3-0, in favor of the Tri.
With the score in favor of Mexico, the players of Haiti could do nothing more than try to continue defending themselves, but their efforts proved to be in vain. A failed corner kick by Gio left the ball with Mexico, at Pablo Barrera’s feet. Finding himself alone, Barrera took advantage of the moment and advanced, full sped, towards Jean-Dominique. He gave a powerful shot, scoring the fourth goal in minute 82, and giving the absolute victory to Mexico.
In another quarter-finals game, Costa Rica crushed Guadeloupe with a score of 5-1. Guadeloupe apparently could not adapt to the synthetic field at the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium and was unable to match the pace set by the Costa Ricans, who play after play showed their superiority on the field.
In the Gold Cup Semifinals, Costa Rica and Mexico will face each other on July 26th, each hoping to find its way to the finals. The other final contender will be determined after the match between United States and Honduras.
About the Author
Stephen Lars has been a prominent writer on daily sports news and the sportsbetting industry for many exceptional sport web sites. You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.