Mexico beats USMNT 1-0 to win 8th Gold Cup championship

Midfielder Jonathan dos Santos scored the only goal with which the Mexican men’s national soccer team beat the United States 1-0 in the final of the Gold Cup ‘s 15th edition to be crowned the new champions of the top Concacaf tournament on Sunday.

The goal came in the 73rd minute when forward Raul Jimenez back-heeled a pass to dos Santos, who kicked it sweetly into the net, above and beyond the hands of US goalkeeper Zack Steffen.

This is Mexico’s eighth Gold Cup title in the nine finals it has played, including six against the US, out of which it has won five.

The only final Mexico lost was in 2007, which - just like the match played Sunday in front of 72,492 spectators - was also played in Chicago’s Soldier Field stadium.

The outcome of Sunday’s match could have been different if the US had managed to convert two clear scoring opportunities early in the game and then another one later.

Mexico, which lacked ideas and did not have a specific leading player, gradually gained possession of the ball but was unable to create scoring opportunities.

Their first chance to score came in the 16th minute with a shot by Andres Guardado that went high. This was followed by another miss in the 42nd minute when dos Santos sent a powerful, right-legged shot that whizzed just wide of the post.

The second half began on the same note and the US had the first scoring opportunity, but everything changed from the 52nd minute onward in favor of Mexico, which began to have greater control of the ball, regaining it and creating clear goal scoring opportunities that striker Raul Jimenez was unable to convert when the ball reached him inside the area.

Another missed chance for Mexico came in the 67th minute, when attacker Uriel Antuna sent the ball slightly left off the post.

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