| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico | July 2009 
Concacaf Gold Cup Group C - Mexico Opens Strongly
 Tom FitzGerald - San Francisco Chronicle
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July 06, 2009
| | Mexico's Jonny Magallon heads the ball in front of Nicaragua's David Martinez in their Gold Cup matchup. (Jeff Chiu/AP) | |
It wasn't the pounding that Mexico's flag-waving fans would have liked, but it was enough to satisfy coach Javier Aguirre. So it was a great day for Mexico's national soccer team.
"I'm not thinking about the World Cup; I'm thinking about the Gold Cup," Aguirre said after Sunday's convincing but not overpowering 2-0 win over Nicaragua at the Oakland Coliseum.
Aguirre's team is 1-1 in World Cup qualifying, but El Tri are now 1-0 in the Gold Cup after goals by Luis Miguel Noriega and Pablo Barrera delighted a heavily pro-Mexico crowd of 32,057.
Noriega scored on a penalty kick in the 45th minute after Canadian referee Paul Ward called a foul in the penalty area on Nicaragua's Armando Reyes, who was marking Israel Martinez. Noriega, 24, was playing his first official international match.
Barrera, a second-half substitution, booted home a 7-yard shot past goalkeeper Carlos Mendieta on a cross by Alberto Medina in the 86th minute.
Mexico had an 18-6 advantage in shots and 8-1 in corners, but there was a long stretch in the first half when defensive-minded Nicaragua kept the favorites a little disjointed. It didn't help that a lower leg injury sidelined starting forward Carlos Vela, a key part of Aguirre's youth movement, early in the game. He was taken to have X-rays, the coach said.
"We have to hope he's all right," said Giovani Dos Santos, another 20-year-old forward whose speed made him a scoring threat at several points. "This gives us confidence. It gives us things to build on."
The foul that set up Noriega's penalty was fiercely contested by Nicaragua's players.
"From our angle (on the sideline), it was difficult to see," coach Otoniel Olivas said. "The players on the field didn't think it was a foul."
In an earlier match, Guadeloupe scored two goals in the first half, one on a thundering 35-yard blast by David Fleurival, to beat Panama 2-1 in a mild upset.
The Gwada Boys, who staged a surprising run to the semifinals in 2007 before losing to Mexico, might be poised for another try. They jumped to a 1-0 lead in the 33rd minute on a 6-yard shot by Loic Loval, whose strong shot a minute earlier was stopped by goalkeeper Jaime Penedo.
In the 43rd minute, Fleurival took a pass from Loval and boomed a shot that found the upper right corner of the net past a diving Penedo.
The four teams continue play in Houston on Thursday in Group C of the 12-team regional championship of North American, Central American and Caribbean countries.
Email Tom FitzGerald at tfitzgerald(at)sfchronicle.com. |
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