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Mexico Survives Gold Cup Scare Against Martinique

By Pedro Dorantes
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The Mexican National Team took on Martinique for the last of their Gold Cup group stage matches. Martinique proved to be a tough rival for Mexico but El Tri pulled through, 3-2.

First Half

Mexico put the pressure on the opposition right away as it took no time for them to secure ball possession. El Tri had good ball movement with passes wide and long to both sides of the pitch.

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Martinique hit a bump in the road early as an injury struck them. Joris Marveaux left with a hamstring injury and was replaced by Audrick Linord substituted.  Meanwhile, Mexico had a couple of chances thanks to Andres Guardado and Roberto Alvarado.

Mexico broke through just before the half-hour mark as Uriel Antuna sneaked into the edge of the box and put the ball into the net.

Antuna had another chance from outside the box but went wide.

Mexico had the lead at halftime, 1-0.

Second Half

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Things changed for Mexico at the beginning of the second half. El Tri tried to play a fancier brand of soccer. They abused one-touch passes and dribbling moves, causing them to lose balls at midfield. They paid for their overconfidence a few minutes shy of the hour mark.

Kevin Parsemain took advantage of a foul near the box to equalize the score on a spectacular free kick goal. Martinique leveled the scoreboard at the 56th minute.

Martinique grew in confidence after the equalizer and showed willingness to go forward in search of another goal. Despite their efforts up front, the Mexican defense was a bit too much for them as they were constantly outnumbered.

Mexico got their lead back thanks to a goal by Raul Jimenez at the 61st minute aided by a Rodolfo Pizarro cross.

They later widened their lead with a goal from Fernando Navarro. Mexico was up 3-1 at the 72nd minute.

Martinique was not going down without a fight. They made that clear with a stunner off a header by Jordi Delem at the 84th minute.

The French territory ran out of time to level the score once again.

Postgame Reactions

Mexico’s Martino Is Not A Happy Man

When asked about the match, El Tri’s coach Gerardo Martino showed he was not pleased with his team’s performance. According to Martino, “Distractions” like the ones seen during the game are not supposed to happen as they will cause problems for Mexico against a “bigger rival”.

You can relive Guardado’s impressive performance from a few nights ago right here.

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