PHILADELPHIA — Andres Guardado scored again, with no penalty kick needed this time, and his teammates finally managed some goals, too.
Mexico ensured the final wouldn’t come down to any calls in the final minutes with a 3-1 victory over upstart Jamaica for the CONCACAF Gold Cup title Sunday.
Guardado had his fourth goal of the knockout rounds, and Jesus Corona and Oribe Peralta also scored as El Tri won its seventh Gold Cup. It was a convincing performance for coach Miguel Herrera and his team after some shaky play and contentious moments in the previous two games.
Jamaica had made a rousing run to the final, stunning the U.S. in the semis to become the first Caribbean nation to reach the Gold Cup’s championship match. And the Reggae Boyz looked as though they belonged in the opening minutes, keeping the pressure on Mexico with several promising scoring chances but never putting a shot on goal.
But then El Tri started to find the gaps in the defense, and a yellow card for Jamaica helped lead to Mexico’s first goal. The Reggae Boyz hadn’t trailed since early in the second half of its Gold Cup opener.
Mexico, which already held the record for most Gold Cup titles, is 7-1 in finals. El Tri will face the U.S., the 2013 Gold Cup champ, on Oct. 9 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, for CONCACAF’S spot in the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia.
“We won a game today, but we don’t accomplish our goal yet,” Herrera said.
The only way Mexico had been able to score in the knockout rounds before Sunday was on penalty kicks, all three by Guardado. And two of those came on late, questionable calls.
Against Costa Rica in the quarterfinals, a scoreless game was moments from going to a shootout when Guardado converted his penalty in the final minute of extra time. Mexico had been the better team that day, but that wasn’t the case in the semifinals. Down to 10 men, Panama was on the verge of victory when a disputed hand ball set up a penalty for Guardado in second-half stoppage time, and he scored on another for the winner in extra time.