So in the first game of the night, we had a 5-0 thrashing by an obviously superior team. Surely El Salvador could do a little better against Mexico, right? Right?
Well it looked that way for awhile. The first half was very competitive, and one might might actually say that El Salvador was the better squad. They had some nice chances and played some pretty decent team defense. This all seemed to frustrate El Tri quite a bit. They even picked up a couple of yellow cards. Mexico also passed up some pretty good chances. Chicharito was offside more often than not, and in the 38th Guardado had probably the best chance of the half, but it hit way high right in front of goal. El Salvador had to be brimming with confidence as they headed into the half time break tied at 0-0.
Well the second half was a totally different story. Mexico stepped up big and made a huge statement. Juarez opened up the scoring in the 50th minute, then the flood gates opened. El Salvador looked like a deer in the headlights as De Nigris checked into the game and scored in the 58th.
Then it was Chicharito time. He got his first in the 60th to make 3-0, then in the 67th, he got a free header to make it 4-0. The party was on for the Mexican side. El Salvador conceded a PK in stoppage time, and Gonzalez got sent off on the play, straight red. Chicharito hit the PK in cheeky fashion to give Mexico the final 5-0 margin.
So at the end of Gold Cup day 1, the two favorites in group A got the job done. Both Mexico and Costa Rica earned 5-0 victories. Should be fun when they get together.
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