In the most exciting game of the Gold Cup so far, both Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago came into the final group stage game knowing that they would live to play another day, the only question was who would win the group and avoid Costa Rica in the Quarterfinals. Trinidad and Tobago had never won a group in the Gold Cup until Wednesday night, as they tied Mexico 4-4. The Soca Warriors advance to the Quarterfinals as group winners to face third place team from Group A Panama, while Mexico now find themselves in a tough match up against Group B runners up, Costa Rica.
Gold Cup: Trinidad and Tobago Win Their First Group
Kenwyne Jones was the story of the game as he helped both teams with goals and assists. Jones scored a goal and two assists for the Soca Warriors but also scored the go ahead Mexican goal, an own goal in the 90th minute, and gave away a crucial ball that led to Mexico’s second goal.
The other revelation was Trinidad and Tobago’s attacking midfielder, Keron Cummings who scored two goals, including the go ahead third goal that was a cracker, and helped set up Jones’ goal that tied the game at 2-2 when he found Cordell Cato on the right wing and eventually fed it back into the middle for Jones to knock it in.
The game was truly a tale of two halves as Mexico dominated the first half and looked like they would run away with the game 50 minutes into it. Paul Aguilar opened the scoring for Mexico off a Carlos Vela header in the 32nd minute and Vela made it 2-0 in the 51st minute when Andres Guardado took a bad pass from Kenwyne Jones and found a wide open Vela down the middle of the field.
Vela failed to make it 3-0 when he missed a wide open net, and instead of giving his team a three goal lead, Trinidad countered and scored a minutes later in the 55th minute to open their scoring line with a Cummings goal. Kenwyne Jones then scored the equalizer three minutes later in the 58th minute and the game became a battle for first from that moment on.
Cummings gave Trinidad and Tobago the lead in the 66th minute and looked like the team would hang on, until Mexico turned up the pressure in the last five minutes of the game with Jesus “Tecatito” Corona creating all the Mexican chances, including hitting the crossbar in the 86th minute. Andres Guardado gathered a loose ball just inside the box to nail a game-tying goal in the 88th minute and then Mexico took the lead on an own goal by Kenwyne Jones off a corner kick in the 90th minute.
Yohance Marshall became the hero of the tiny nation as he scored a game-tying header off a Joevin Jones corner in the third minute of injury time, and proved to be the final play of the game.
New LA Galaxy signing, Giovani Dos Santos was subbed out at halftime after suffering a head injury right before the end of the first half, his availability for the knockout rounds is unknown.
Miguel Herrera and his team now have a tough road ahead as they must go through Costa Rica and potentially Trinidad and Tobago again in order to reach the final.
Trinidad and Tobago finish the group stage undefeated and will meet another team that didn’t lose any games in the group stage, Panama, however, they never won a game either as they finished with three ties.
Both games will take place in MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Sunday, July 19.
Main Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images
