February 18, 2000

Mexico Demonstrates Gold Cup Dominance In Opening Round

What was billed as a battle between two of the top strikers in international soccer; Dwight Yorke and Luis Hernandez, turned out to be yet another display of Mexican dominance in Gold Cup competition.


Mexico’s Rafael Marquez (right) answers questions, through an interpreter (center) while coach Manuel Lapuente listens during post-game press conference.

For Mexico, winning the Gold Cup has become almost routine, their lone defeat suffered nearly a decade ago in 1991. On Sunday, the Tri-colores demonstrated why they are heavily favored to win this year's event with a 4-0 trouncing of Trinidad & Tobago at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium.

Looking up at the sky, Dwight Yorke, who stars for Manchester United when not on national team duty with Trinidad & Tobago, must have thought he was back in England. Ominous rain clouds shrouded the stadium all day, but the predicted rain never materialized.

It was a gloomy day for Yorke on the field as well. Mexico's fast closing defense anchored by Claudio Suarez held the prolific scorer in check. The weather put a damper on the game's attendance figures. But a colorful, albeit less than expected crowd of 22,131 donned face paint, over-sized sombreros, Tricolores jerseys and Mexican flags for a celebration of their heritage. And the guests of honor did not disappoint.

After a typically slow start, the game heated up in the 20th minute when a golden opportunity by Mexico's Jose Manuel Abundis was thwarted by some timely T&T defense. After exchanging chances in what then became a fast-paced game, Mexico's Rafael Marquez opened the scoring in the 37th minute with a blast from 25 yards. The goal set off a spirited celebration in the stands which seemed devoid of a single Trinidad and Tobago supporter.

"It was a great pass from (Emilio) Mora," Marquez told reporters later. "I was just there for the pass. It was a great goal and I was happy about it."

Mexico took the one goal lead into the locker room at half-time. And once the whistle sounded to begin the second half, Mexico seized control of the game.

Crowd pleaser, Luis Hernandez made it 2-0 in the 52nd minute when Francisco Palencia sprung him on a counter-attack.The swift and powerful Hernandez smacked the ball past Clayton Ince from the right edge of the penalty box for the insurance goal. Later, Palencia added the fourth goal after Trinidad & Tobago was charged with an own goal while defending on a corner kick.

Assuming that Mexico avoided an upset against Guatemala in last night's Coliseum action, Mexico, as champions of Group C return to Qualcomm Stadium on Sunday, Feb. 20 for quarterfinal action against the group D runnerup.

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