Mexico Vs. El Salvador, 2011 Gold Cup, Group A: ‘Chicharito’ Javier Hernandez Scores A Hat Trick As El Tri Wins 5-0

The first goal was assisted by Giovani dos Santos, who put in a low cross from the right side of the box. Juarez had his initial shot saved, but he fell on the rebound, somehow pushing it into the back of the net with his head unintentionally. It wasn’t a pretty goal, but it gave Mexico the confidence they needed.

For more information on the Mexico Vs. El Salvador game, the 2011 Gold Cup (Copa Oro), and Mexican football in general, check out SB Nation’s Mexican football blog FMF State Of Mind.

Most would agree that this is much more the fault of the players than Chepo de la Torre, as the general public believes that this is his best XI. They do not look particularly focused and motivated, though, and the chemistry looks completely off. Chepo will have to at least give his team a very serious talking to at halftime, if not make some kind of changes just to shake things up.

For more information on the Mexico Vs. El Salvador game, the 2011 Gold Cup (Copa Oro), and Mexican football in general, check out SB Nation’s Mexican football blog FMF State Of Mind.

Still, Mexico have much more of the possession and they’ve created a couple of half chances. It seems like a goal is on the way for them eventually, but it’s not going to come easy. El Salvador’s defense has been great so far and it might be tough to crack.

There’s no reason for Chepo de la Torre to do anything dramatic, even if things aren’t going exactly to plan so far. This is his best setup and his best personnel group, and they have a better chance of figuring this out than any other players do.

Someone might want to let the Mexican national team that they are currently playing a competitive football match. They have gotten off to a very slow start, and they’re looking quite shaky. There’s no question that they’re a much more talented side than El Salvador, but their opponents have come out with a much different level of intensity and focus that El Tri will have to match quickly.

On an unrelated note, Univision’s coverage so far is atrocious. They had extra commercials and joined the game late, then went to a split screen with Hugo Sanchez while the ball was in play. Simply terrible.

The general public didn’t know much about Cuba coming into this Gold Cup, but since they had to qualify to get here, many were hopeful that they would at least be competitive. If this game is anything to go by, they won’t be. Costa Rica absolutely obliterated a team whose players are all about to defect to the United States anyway, laying a 5-0 beating on their opponents.

Costa Rica were well in control of the match after going up 2-0 in the first half, but even the most optimistic Ticos fan couldn’t have predicted what would happen in the beginning of the second half. It would only take one minute and 55 seconds for Costa Rica to score twice in the second half, pushing the score to 4-0 and effectively ending the game. They would add a fifth for good measure, taking an emphatic victory.

Mexico lineup: Ochoa; Salcido, Rodriguez, Moreno, Juarez, Torrado, Castro, Guardado, dos Santos, Barrera, Hernandez

El Salvador lineup: Montes; Anaya, Gonzalez, Turcios, Garcia, Hernandez, D. Alas, Flores, J. Alas, Quintanilla, Zelaya

Costa Rica have opted to rest superstar Bryan Ruiz in their opening Gold Cup game against Cuba, and so far, their caution has not been punished. The Ticos are much better than their opponents so far and they hold a well-deserved 2-0 lead at halftime.

When the lineups came out, it wasn’t entirely obvious to the casual follower what the Ticos were thinking. Ruiz was out and six of the players in the lineup are listed on their roster as defenders. Their setup has been a 3-5-2 with the ball and a 4-4-2 without it, which has been very entertaining and impressive. The keys are Celso Borges and Bryan Oviedo dictating the pace in the middle, and they’ve been great so far.

There’s not much one can realistically say about the Cuba lineup. Very few have had the privilege of seeing them play, so nobody really knows how good (or not good) they are. Even the opposition scouting will be minimal, but I’d imagine that Costa Rica are probably pretty confident that they can get a result against their reclusive opponents.

Being extremely confident would probably be the reason Bryan Ruiz isn’t featuring for Costa Rica, who appear to have chosen to rest the Eredivisie star. An injury is a possibility, but one imagines that would have been bigger news - instead it just looks like Ruiz is being held back for more dangerous opponents than Cuba. It’ll be interesting to see whether or not that’s a mistake.

But although the forward is extremely talented, Mexico’s success will be dependent on those around him, says Tom Marshall of SB Nation’s Mexican futbol blog FMF State of Mind. There are questions about each youngster, and Mexico’s destiny will be largely shaped by how many of them reach the lofty heights promised by their undoubted talent:

Should the Mexican youth project yield significant results, the USA has reason to be scared of its status as El Tri’s equals. We’ll get our first good look at them against El Salvador.

The last time that Mexico had a good striker who they could depend on to finish chances was when Jared Borgetti was putting the green shirt on and even he couldn’t be trusted in the last couple years of his international career. Since about 2005, when age began to catch up with Borgetti, Mexico has had a nasty habit of controlling the midfield and looking dynamic in the attack, but not getting the results they wanted because of poor finishing.

Meanwhile, the United States stole away Mexico’s CONCACAF dominance. The first step was when the U.S. defeated Mexico at the 2002 World Cup. Mexico bounced back with a 2003 Gold Cup win, but since then, El Tri have not won a major CONCACAF competition with top teams. The 2005 and 2007 Gold Cups went to the U.S. and the Americans finished first in CONCACAF qualifying for both the 2006 and 2010 World Cups. The only thing that Mexico has won of late is the 2009 Gold Cup and that tournament came with both the U.S. and Mexico fielding weak teams, hardly something that El Tri can use in an argument to reassert their dominance.

Tournament champions have to start somewhere and if CONCACAF Gold Cup favorites Mexico are to win the tournament, it will start with El Salvador. El Tri have hit their stride as they enter the Gold Cup with almost all of their top players in form for the first time in years. That, along with the issues their top challengers, the United States, are having and Mexico is in a good spot to win their second consecutive Gold Cup.

With Mexico being so superior to most of the teams in CONCACAF, they don’t need to be at their very best from the start, but they will be challenged some. El Salvador is not a particularly strong team, but they are one of the region’s best six or seven so El Tri weren’t gifted some team like Grenada they could trounce. Group A also includes Costa Rica, clearly CONCACAF’s third-best team and one that will make things tougher on Mexico than you would expect in a Gold Cup group stage.