Mexico have powered into the lead in group C and would be hoping that this is the beginning of a good run of results.
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After Herrera took a completely different squad to last month’s Copa America and saw them eliminated at the group stage, Mexico drew with Costa Rica and Honduras in Gold Cup warm-up friendlies.
“From the start, we had to press high, press hard, stop Guatemala from getting into their rhythm and basically we compounded on their mistakes and got three goals pretty early”, said Trinidad striker Kenwyne Jones.
Up front, Hernandez’s absence means they will rely more heavily on Giovani dos Santos and Carlos Vela, two players who have not had a long history of playing together to build the kind of close rapport teams want to see in their attacking players as they come into major competitions. On July 1, Chicharito collided with Honduran defender Brayan Beckeles and suffered a broken clavicle, effectively ending his chances of competing this summer. Oribe Peralta became the fourth Mexican to score three goals or more in a Gold Cup match, joining Luis Roberto Alves (1993: 7 v Martinique), Luis Miguel Salvador (1993: 3 v Jamaica) and Javier Hernandez (2011: 3 v El Salvador). Jason de Vos (45′) scored at the end of the first half and Carlo Corazzin – the tournament’s top scorer with four goals – converted a 67th minute penalty kick to seal the famous result.
“I don’t feel under any pressure”, said manager Miguel Herrera, who had set a goal of reaching the final.
Herrera deployed his team in a 4-4-2 formation, a change brought about by the recent injury to center-back Hector Moreno. Then Mexico did the same with Chile.
Meanwhile, Mexico showed their prowess and potential for the tournament.
While Garcia has left the team permanently due to his defection to the USA, team officials told ESPN they expect Triana and the six other regular players stuck in Antigua to make it in time for their next match against Trinidad and Tobago Sunday. Herrera still can’t seem to nail down a starting lineup despite a plethora of talent at his disposal. Honduras has fallen all the way to 75th in the world rankings after qualifying for the World Cup past year. One of the players defected before the game against Mexico. All eyes will be on Ruiz, as he is one of the most skilled forwards in this Gold Cup. Young gun Kervens Belfort (who plays for Ethnikos Achna in Cyprus) has the most global goals of anyone on the team, while defender Jean-Jacques Pierre (Angers, France) has the most experience. Dos Santos has had a rather inconsistent year for Villarreal, only netting one goal in 27 appearances after netting 11 in the previous campaign.
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After dominating the first few minutes of play Mexico finally capitalized on a scoring opportunity in the 17th minute.
