Tata Martino is heading to his first competitive final as Mexico head coach.
El Tri held off a pesky Haitian side and used a stoppage time penalty kick from Raul Jimenez to win 1-0 and book a spot in July 7th’s Concacaf Gold Cup Final.
Jimenez provided the first real test on goal in the 35th-minute, forcing Johny Placide into a good reaction save off a flicked header.
Placide was called into action again in the 67th-minute, pushing Andres Guardado’s effort from reaching the top corner.
Guillermo Ochoa punched away Andrew Jean-Baptiste’s header on the verge of second-half stoppage time.
However, Mexico would have the final say as Jimenez stepped up to the penalty spot in the 93rd-minute. The striker sent Placide the wrong way and slotted into the bottom-right corner to seal a 1-0 win for El Tri.
Mikael Cantave’s late long-range effort hit the crossbar for Haiti, ending the underdogs hopes of pulling the upset.
With the win, El Tri will face either the U.S. or Jamaica in the final on June 7th from Chicago. Haiti’s terrific run in this summer’s Gold Cup comes to an end after advancing into the semifinals.
Mexico deserved the win. And this is the best Haitian team I’ve seen ever. They’ve always been underwhelming all over the field but now it just seems they are missing the goals. However, they did beat Costa Rica. I wonder how much this has to do with Collat? Surely, they can hold their heads high and can be considered a possibility for the final round of WCQ when it arrives.
Overall tho, I love seeing teams like Haiti, Curaçao and Canada (ok their tourney was poor) do well. Concacaf is weak. Stiffer competition means better teams means our teams are more competitive internationally – even if WCQ is tougher.
Hey guys, give Haiti some credit here, they worked their tails off..
Frankly I’d like to see several of our guys collapse in the pitch out of pure exhaustion at the end of 90minutes…
Haiti left it all on the field. Surprisingly wily.
2 games in row Mexico gets saved by more than dubious penalty kicks. Haiti showed they belonged. Hope they can make some noise in WCQ – Allez Haiti!
What dubious penalty kick was given to Mexico in the Costa Rica game that saved Mexico?
Ah yes my bad had a brain fart there! Vs Costa Rica, Mexico had a dubious penalty called against them, of course!! I need to stop commenting before I’ve had my morning espresso shot!!
I retract my comment – so then I suppose we can say the soccer gods provided retribution to Mexico for the imaginary Costa Rica penalty! 😉
Cheers
What Mexico needed last night was Vela. No ideas beyond race to the endline and try a cross. Until Jimenez decided to fall down in the box I guess.
At some point Martino’s biggest challenge must be to get his players pumped up for such mediocre teams.
Nope. His biggest challenge is to get his players to actually finish their chances.
You really are delusional. Instead of acknowledging that El Tri just didn’t play well, you try to blame the mediocre scoreline on the fact that the Mexican players were bored from playing some minnow? The new Concacaf reality has caught up to Mexico, just like it did to the US and CR. You don’t need to blame it on the coach.
“You really are delusional. Instead of acknowledging that El Tri just didn’t play well”
“The new Concacaf reality has caught up to Mexico”
So, which one is it?
In a time when people wear their stupidity like a badge of honor, you’re an Eagle Scout.
One is not mutually exclusive of the other, Lil Bobby. The USMNT did not play well against Curacao, but also this so-called minnow put a good product together, like Haiti and other smaller countries have this summer. When a regional powerhouse plays poorly and a minnow steps up their game, the gap is quite narrow and results in Mexico scraping by with a dubious pk in the 92nd minute. See how that works? I don’t expect you to comprehend this, of course, so carry on with your delusion.