Mexico 3-1 El Salvador: Highlights and recap

Mexico faced off with El Salvador in the 2017 Gold Cup on Sunday, July 9 from San Diego, CA. Here are the highlights from the match.

Mexico undoubtedly entered their first 2017 Gold Cup group stage match on Sunday night against El Salvador as the favorites. Even with a youthful squad meant to help build towards the country’s future, the defending Gold Cup champions presented a much more formidable side on paper than their opponents. Yet, that didn’t stop the two sides from going right at one another from the opening kickoff.

Though El Tri controlled most of the possession in the first five minutes of the match, it was El Salvador that had the best early attacking opportunities against Mexico. They were pressing the defense back and making some dangerous runs into the box when they controlled the ball.

However, it was Mexico that was ultimately able to strike first. After drawing a free kick from some 40 yards out on the right wing, Elias Hernandez delivered a gorgeous ball onto the far-post side of the 6-yard box. That’s where Hedgardo Marin was running and rose up for a beautiful header into the top left corner beyond the keeper’s reach.

El Tri’s celebration was short lived, however. Not two minutes after the Mexicans opened up their 1-0 lead, the El Salvadorians found a quick answer. Again moving quickly and getting the Mexico defense on their heels, Rodolfo Zelaya played a gorgeous through ball into the center of the box and Nelson Bonilla put a beautiful touch on it to guide it into the bottom left corner for the equalizer.

Things stayed level and got quite chippy between the two sides for close to 20 minutes. However, the scoreline changed in the 29th minute when Jesus Gallardo was left with a bit of room on the right wing. The El Salvador defense fell asleep in the box and failed to mark the assist-man on the first goal, Hernandez, in the center of the box. He received a nice cross in and uncorked a low volley that the keeper never had a chance to save to make it 2-1. From that point, El Tri played like a side in control, allowing few opportunities and creating several more of their own.

Coming out of the half, it was clearly the Mexicans that were in control. They continued to dominate possession, and found the back of the net in the 55th minute thanks to a string of defensive mishaps from El Salvador. That put the scoreline at 3-1, which is where it stayed. The trailing side threatened a few times, but were unable to convert. Mexico had chances of their own as well, but let the lead stand as they picked up the three points.

Highlights

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The start of the match surely wasn’t what Mexico were looking for, but the young squad seemed to find their footing as the match went on. If they can continue that momentum, they’ll have no problem defending their Gold Cup win from 2015.