Raúl Jiménez and Edson Álvarez make it 1-2 against the United States
Mexico is the champion of the Gold Cup, the CONCACAF tournament that decides the best in Central-North America and the Caribbean, thanks to a fair comeback against the United States, a team coached by Mauricio Pochettino. Raúl Jiménez, the Mexican scorer, and Edson Álvarez, captain of the ‘Tri’, were the heroes of the comeback, with absolute dominance in the game despite Richards’ early goal for the USA (minute 4)
Javier Aguirre
Javier Aguirre, the Mexican coach, is a Gold Cup champion, just as he was a champion of the CONCACAF Nations League four months ago… and he is undoubtedly the most important Mexican coach in history. His résumé is there, in Mexico and abroad (six teams in Spain), for those skeptics who still doubt it.
Moreover, this ‘Tri’ of the Aguirre-Rafa Márquez duo has the added bonus of playing good football, as demonstrated in this final, with a lot of teamwork and total dominance against a USA team that could barely certify its inferiority.
The Mexican coach
The match started with bad news for Mexico. It was the fourth minute, and a header by Richards was validated by the referee’s watch to convert a ‘ghost goal’ to make it 1-0 for the USA.
But Mexico’s credit was not flinching. Javier Aguirre’s team started to play, to connect, to go from left to right patiently, despite the great pressure in the stadium, which was mostly ‘Mexi.’ And so… until the 1-1 by Raúl Jiménez.
The third highest goalscorer in the history of Mexico did what he knows how to do: take advantage of a great assist from the Yucatecan Marcel Ruíz, one of the young Aztec talents, to equalize the score for a Mexico that deserved it.
Interestingly, after the equalizer, Mexico lowered their intensity and the United States dominated, reaching a point where they had up to three opportunities in the same play. But goalkeeper Malagón prevented this and the halftime arrived with a score of 1-1.
