Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
After ending the Confederations Cup with a 2-1 victory over Japan, Mexico headed back to North America to partake in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
They brought an inexperienced squad to participate, but the guys all want to make sure their country will be proud of them. Last night, they tried, but unfortunately failed.
Panama scored a penalty to take the lead roughly seven minutes in through Gabriel Torres. Quintero initially won the spot kick after being brought down in the box by Mexico’s No. 9, Raul Jimenez who tracked back to help the defense.
Marco Fabian would equalize for for El Tri at the brink of half-time before Torres doubled his tally to award Panama their first every victory over their counterparts in their history. This is a game that his nation will never forget.
Now, the time has come to switch gears to what Mexico’s chances are of defending their crown as Gold Cup champions from 2011.
Fabian and Jimenez are highly regarded as the best attacking players that this roster has to offer. There are no unsung heroes expected to emerge, but let’s all remember that this is soccer and Mexico is one of the most crazed nations when discussing the love of this sport.
Frankly, this team can easily make the final if they find a way to bounce back from last night’s disappointment. What they need to do is take every opponent seriously and not defend as over-aggressively as they did last night — that penalty call could have been avoided without the striker’s error inside his own danger area. Regardless, it is what it is and there are two group matches that remain, which means six points are up for grabs.
This tournament gets better every time it played. Last night brought us a new piece of history from Panama, so just imagine what the rest of the Gold Cup will bring us. Enjoy all of the action, folks.
