Gold Cup recap: Mexico defeats Cuba 6-0

Mexico and Cuba squared off in Chicago in the 2015 Gold Cup tournament.

After the disappointing end to the 2014 World Cup and their run in the Copa America tournament, Mexico’s national team is looking for a trophy to boost their moral and reassert themselves as the top team in CONCACAF. Unfortunately their fortunes took a turn for the worse when Javier Hernandez went down with an injury before the tournament even began.

On Thursday El Tri took on Cuba at Solider Field in Chicago, Illinois. They dominated posession early on while not necessarily creating brilliant or solid goal scoring opportunities. They showed they were content to maintain possession along the back line to regroup and attack once again.

Those chances came after the 10th minute as Mexico attacked down the wings, at one point nearly getting a goal when Cuabn defender Yaisnier Napoles nearly headed it in.

Mexico broke through minutes later in the 16th minute after a barrage of shots and miracle saves. A defender made a poor clear line save that was headed down to Oribe Peralta in the middle of the box, and he put it into the back of the net to give Mexico the lead.

In 23rd minute, another poor clear from Cuba had the ball going straight up in the air and coming down at the edge of the box. Jonathan Dos Santos got the ball to the feet of Carlos Vela who found the bottom-right hand corner to extend the lead to 2-0.

An immaculate through ball in the 34 minute found the feet of Peralta and he tried to get cheeky and put the ball around the goal keeper, but Cuba’s Diosvelis Guerra got the stop. In the 37th minute moments later Mexico was able to get through once more and find the back of the net, once again it was Peralta finding the back of the net with a right-footed shot to the right post.

In the 41st minute of the first half Guillermo Ochoa was finally tested with a weak header that never stood a chance and essentially rolled to his feet.

Mexico added a fourth goal in the 44th minute of the game, showing Cuba no mercy. It was a beautiful goal from team play with the ball chipped over the back line to Andres Guardado who headed it in from the left side of the box to the right side of the goal.

The goal scoring continued into the second half when Peralta scored his third goal of the game. This one came after a high lob into the box towards the back post. Peralta got his head to it and it seemed to be going in on goal but a defender was racing to clear it on the goal line and Peralta added a litle extra tap to ensure it went in.

The relentless attack from Mexico continued to reward with Giovani Dos Santos finding the back of the net in the 75th minute. A low shot to the far post beat the keeper.

Mexico defeated Cuba 6-0 in an impressive Gold Cup win.

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