March 27, 2023, 7:46 AM
March 27, 2023, 7:46 AM
Mexico qualified for the final phase of the Concacaf Nations League on Sunday, after drawing 2-2 with Jamaica in a match of the sixth and last day of Group A of League A, played at the Azteca stadium.
Bobby Reid, at minute 7, and Edson Álvarez, at minute 32, on his own goal, scored for the Caribbean team. Orbelín Pineda, at 17, and Hirving Lozano, at 45+20They scored for the Aztec squad.
Mexico generated the first chance at minute 6. Lozano sent a cross from the left corridor of the area and Héctor Moreno hit a powerful header that required the shot and the deflection of the Caribbean goalkeeper, Jahmali Waite, with one hand.
The ‘Reggae Boyz’ scored the 1-0 in a surprising and spectacular way at 7 with a shot that Reid connected from outside the area and that surpassed the flight of the Mexican goalkeeper, Guillermo Ochoa.
At 17, Mexico weaved a ball down the left side, Lozano sent a flush pass and Pineda made it 1-1 with a touch on the edge of the small area.
Around minute 30 a downpour broke out and at 32 Álvarez scored an own goal to make it 2-1 for Jamaicaby touching the ball in the six-yard box after taking a left corner kick.
The American arbitrator Ismail Elfath decided suspend the game at 34 due to the electrical storm. The players returned from the locker rooms and play resumed after an 18-minute interruption.
Mexico was close to leveling the score at 45+15 with a shot from ‘Chucky’ Lozano from outside the area that crashed into the crossbar.
Near the end of the first half, at 45+20, Lozano made it 2-2 by taking a penalty signaled by a foul by Ravel Morrison on Henry Martín.
Already in the second half, at 54, Luis Chávez tried the shot from outside the area and the ball passed near the base of the right post of the Jamaican goal.
Three minutes later, after taking a corner, Shamar Nicholson hit a header in the Mexico six-yard box that was covered by ‘Memo’ Ochoa.
At 76, Diego Lainez took a left-footed shot from outside the area and the ball crashed into the Jamaican crossbar.
ochoa saved Mexico at 87 with a save to a dangerous shot from Cory Burke.
El Tri had the last arrival of the game, at 90+3, with a touch of Lozano inside the small area that went to one side of the right post.
“The result leaves me dissatisfied, the important thing was to win”, admitted Diego Cocca, technical director of Mexico at the end of the game. “We generated 14, 18 goal situations with shots, shots against the crossbar; the team kept up the intensity, that gives me peace of mind.”
With this result, Mexico was the leader of Group A with 10 points and advanced to the ‘Final Four’ to be played in June in the United States. Jamaica with five units and Suriname with one ended up eliminated.
Mexico: Guillermo Ochoa – Jorge Sánchez (Julián Araujo, 79), César Montes, Héctor Moreno, Jesús Gallardo – Edson Álvarez, Luis Romo, Luis Chávez, Orbelín Pineda (Diego Lainez, 62) – Hirving Lozano, Henry Martín (Raúl Jiménez, 62) . DT Diego Cocca.
Jamaica: Jahmali Waite – Amari’i Bell, Ethan Pinnock, Javain Brown (Dexter Lembikisa, 46), Damion Lowe (Adrian Mariappa, 83) – Daniel Johnson (Cory Burke, 83), Ravel Morrison (Jonathan Russell 66), Jamal Lowe (Kemar Lawrence, 66), Shamar Nicholson-Leon Bailey, Bobby Reid. DT Heimir Hallgrimson.
