Gold Cup 2013 quarterfinals: Mexico and Panama will play a semifinal rematch

Thanks to young star striker Raul Jimenez, Mexico are headed for a rematch with Panama in the semifinals of Gold Cup. El Tri struggled throughout their quarterfinal against Trinidad and Tobago, but Jimenez placed a brilliant finish past Jan Michael Williams in the last 10 minutes to seal a 1-0 win.

It looked like T&T were going to be able to hold on for extra time until the 84th minute, when Jimenez stole the win for El Tri. He placed a first-time shot off a near post cross by Miguel Layun to the far post, curled around the hand of Williams to break the hearts of the underdogs.

Now Mexico have to continue to improve, but quicker than they have been. Trinidad and Tobago are playing pretty well and Kenwyne Jones, for all his trouble finishing in this tournament, has physically manhandled every defender he has come up against thus far. If El Tri’s defense doesn’t improve, it won’t matter what Marco Fabian and Co. do going forward. That means Joel Huiqui and Juan Carlos Valenzuela, both of whom have struggled, need to turn in their best match of the tournament and Alejandro Castro has to provide the shield for the backline that Mexico has lacked thus far.

The two sides are in the knockout stages now and a loss eliminates them. For Trinidad and Tobago, who missed the Hex, it would mark the end of competitive matches until they attempt to qualify for the 2015 Gold Cup. For Mexico, it could mean the end of the Jose Manuel “Chepo” de la Torre era.

Mexico will expect to win in front of a large partisan crowd, but nothing El Tri’s done in 2013 -- either the main squad or this squad -- should lead anyone to count out T&T.

Match date/time: Saturday, 6:30 p.m. ET