Mexico weren’t very good on Thursday night at CenturyLink Field. In fact, for the first 40 minutes they were downright awful, but Canada was equally as bad so a couple bright moments and some luck proved to be enough for El Tri to come away with a 2-0 win.
Mexico vs. Canada: Final score 2-0, Sloppy El Tri get first Gold Cup win
El Tri got their first points of the Gold Cup, but they didn’t impress in a 2-0 win over hapless Canada.
USA TODAY Sports
Jose Manuel "Chepo" de la Torre did not silence any of his critics with Mexico's performance as Mexico struggled to do much of anything in the early going. Their passing was sloppy, their defending lax and their creativity absent as Canada had the best chances to start.
For complete coverage of El Tri visit: FMF State of Mind
Just because Canada held their own did not make their play any good. They were awful as well, predictably so, and the match was near unwatchable.
The abomination of a match looked like it would go into the break scoreless, but Mexico took advantage of non-existent marking just before halftime to grab the opening goal. A flicked on header of a corner kick found Raul Jimenez, who was completely unmarked from the start, and a header put El Tri in front.
Mexico added to their lead in the second half thanks to a Marco Fabian dive. He went down, the referee blew his whistle and El Tri had a spot kick. Fabian converted it with ease and Mexico was 2-0 up.
While Mexico were a little better in the second half, and certainly better than Canada, they were still far from good. They struggled to turn possession into chances and were still leaky at the back. Marcel de Jong almost cut the Mexico lead in half with a free kick that rattled the bar, but that was Canada’s best chance so even if it went in an equalizer was not coming.
With the win, Mexico are level with Martinique with three points, good for second place in Group A. Panama are still at the top of the group with six points, while Canada are bringing up the rear with no points.
More in Soccer:
See More:
