Mexico 0 Costa Rica 0
June 22 – Mexico and Costa Rica drew a blank in an enthralling no holds barred encounter at the Allegiant in Las Vegas in front of 35,000 fans.
It was a game of cat and mouse between an imperious Mexico who have bossed Concacaf over the past two years at regional level, and Costa Rica who are building a pathway back to the big bosses’ table.
This performance marked a significant progression for the Costa Ricans who are clearly growing their new group of players and seemed to grow before your eyes as the game progressed from them being a tentative participant at its opening to an equal partner at its finish.
Mexico will be disappointed they didn’t finish off Costa Rica when they had their chances, and they though they had done that in added time only to have Santiago Jimenez’s spectacular scissor kick chalked off.
Both nations had already qualified for the quarter finals of the Gold Cup, but neither coach was entirely satisfied with performances. The final group game offered them both a no-jeopardy test of their systems and players as the Gold Cup moves into the make or break rounds.
The pre-match build-up had focussed on the battle of the Mexican managers. Javier Aguirre is in his third term as Mexican manager who was brought back to put a misfiring team right, was up against former Mexican manager Manuel Herrera who is now tasked with rebuilding Costa Rica.
A win over Mexico would be sweet for Herrerra who had led Mexico to the 2014 World Cup and the 2015 Gold Cup title but was only in charge for two years.
A scrappy opening saw two early yellow cards for Costa Rica’s Francisco Calvo and Carlos Mora.
Mexico were in control and in the 7th minute Luis Chavez pounced on a loose ball coming out the box to unleash a long range effort that was blocked away by the evergreen Keylor Navas in Costa Rica’s goal. Nevas was superb all evening but especially early on as he infused confidence in the players in front of him.
Alexis Vega on Mexico’s left wing was causing all kinds of problems for Costa Rica’s defence, twice putting the ball across Marcel Ruiz who forced saves from Navas.
On 22’ the ball came out Raul Jimenez who hammered it towards the top left corner forcing Navas’ best save of the night.
After a half hour of Mexican dominance and blocked shots peppered at them from all round the box, Costa Rica at last managed to take play into the Mexican half.
Playing with two high forwards, Costa Rica were starting keep possession in the face of Mexico’s dynamic press. Carlos Mora was released on the right but slid his shot across the face of Angel Malagon’s goal, Manfred Ugalde couldn’t find enough control to get a shot away.
On 40 minutes Alonso Martinez was hacked down on the top of the box. Brandon Aguilera blasted his shot over the top.
10 minutes into the second half Mexico should have been a goal up and Raul Jimenez was again the wasteful culprit. A chip over the Costa Rican defenders found him a metre out but he somehow managed to head wide.
The game had opened up. Martinez was his typical busy self in Costa Rica’s attack while Jimemez threatened to make up for his missed chances for Mexico. Throw in a bit of hot spice between the players in all areas of the pitch, and a crowd baying at every blow of the referees whistle, the game was building nicely.
On 67 minutes Martinez stepped inside his marker just outside the box and hit a shot that rattled the bar. It was box to box football with both sides hunting the elusive goal. Mexico were edging closer, winning a foul on the top of the box 25m out. Chavez hit the free kick into wall.
With the match petering out in five minutes of added time, Kenneth Vargas gave away a needless foul on top of the Costa Rican box. Chavez chipped the ball in which was knocked across to Santiago Gimenez, on for Jimenez, who spun and scissor kicked the ball in.
Mexico celebrated and the crowd roared, until VAR called the referee over and it was chalked off.
It was a dramatic finale to a bristling and bustling encounter.
These teams could easily meet again on July 7 at the final in Houston.
| Grp A | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mexico | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| Costa Rica | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 7 |
| Dominican Republic | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| Suriname | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1750681688labto1750681688ofdlr1750681688owedi1750681688sni@n1750681688osloh1750681688cin.l1750681688uap1750681688