It was bound to happen sooner or later. You just knew things would turn a little physical and nasty after a relatively calm Gold Cup tournament so far. Well it all came to a boiling point in a red hot Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas on July 9th as Panama held Mexico to a 1-1 draw in their Group C match before a pro-Mexican crowd of 47,000.
Three players and Mexican manager Javier Aguirre were sent off before the final whistle blew, and when it did blow, there were quite a few punch ups in the crowd and a lot of rubbish thrown onto the pitch.
It was a scrappy game from the get go and Mexico’s Luis Noriega and Panama’s Armando Gun were both sent off just before half time as a minor scuffle took place after Gun had taken down Giovani Dos Santos in a tackle.
It was just shades of things to come as more trouble started when Ricardo Phillips of Panama ran the ball into touch just in front of the Mexican bench with about 10 minutes to go in the game. Aguirre put his foot up though and impeded Phillips. The player and Aguirre then got into a bit of a shoving match and a few other players, some who were on the sidelines, got into it and came over to see what the fuss was. Phillips was then given a red card and Aguirre was sent off of the bench. While things looked like they had gotten back to normal on the pitch, some of the supporters decided to duke it out and the game was held up a few minutes.
The last few minutes were played out and it looked like the final whistle would come soon, but then Blas Perez of Panama was hit by an object thrown from the crowd in the last minute. He was given treatment, but was then hit again with another unidentified flying object as he was being stretchered off the field. This caused more flare ups in the stands.
As for the actual football match, Dos Santos set up Miguel Sabah on a nice two on one counter attack to put Mexico ahead in the 11th minute. Perez then tied the score at 1-1 in the 28th minute after a scrambly play in the Mexican box. Perez managed to stab at the ball while it was in mid air from just a few yards out and it ended up in the back of the net.
All in all there were three yellow cards given to Panama, one to Mexico, and two red cards each. But funnily enough, there were only 14 fouls committed in the game between both teams.
The result means that Mexico, with four points, needs a point from their last group game against Guadeloupe on July 12 to guarantee a spot in the quarter-finals. If they lose and Panama beats Nicaragua, then the Mexicans will be out.
Guadeloupe has already made it to the quarterfinals as Stephane Auvray and Ludovic Gotin scored a minute apart to beat Nicaragua 2-0, keeping them top in Group C with six points. The goals came in the 58th and 59th minutes.
In the second game of a doubleheader in Oakland, California on July 5th, Guadeloupe opened their Group C campaign with a 2-1 win over Panama. However, Panama did the majority of attacking and outshot their opponents by a 21 to 8 margin, It was also the most physical game of the Gold Cup so far, with each team earning two yellow cards and a total of 33 fouls.
Loic Loval scored once and set up David Fleurival’s goal in the first half and that was all Panama needed to seal the win and grab the precious three points. Loval opened the scoring in the 33rd minute as Panamanian defender Armando Gun tried to chest the ball back to his keeper Jaime Penedo, but Loval intercepted the back pass and slid the ball into the net from about six yards out.
It was another example of why the back pass to the goalie should only be made as a last resort. Time and time again defenders are just too lazy and unimaginative to do anything else with the ball so they pass it back to their keeper with disastrous results. It’s one of the worst moves in football and it actually looks good on the defender when the ball ends up in the back of the net.
Loval then set up Fleurival for a cracking goal 10 minutes later to double the score at 2-0. Fleurival chipped the ball from about 35 yards out and it sailed over Penedo’s head and into the top right-hand corner of the net.
Panama got back into the game and made it 2-1 when Nelson Barahona scored in the 68th minute. He snagged the rebound after teammate Blas Perez misfired on his bicycle kick. Panama had a number of chances, but Marius Fausta was very steady in goal as he made seven saves for Guadeloupe.
Guadeloupe manager coach Roger Salnot believes his squad might be able to cause some damage in this year’s tournament and stated, “It all comes down to the players showing their talent, showing their qualities. We have the talent.”
Keeper Fausta wouldn’t have normally gotten the chance to show how good a goalie he is, but regular keeper Franck Grandel, who was the top goalie in 2007 Gold Cup, went home to France the day before the game as he’s out with a from a shoulder injury.
Even though Panama outshot Guadeloupe and created quite a few chances, their manager Gary Stempel said it wasn’t good enough. “More than anything, I’m disappointed with the way we played in the first half. In the second half it was a much, much different team. It took us a little time to settle into the game. They settled into the game much quicker than we did, that’s obvious.”
Guadeloupe is in action again on Thursday July 9th as they take on Nicaragua at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, while Panama takes on Mexico in the match right afterwards.
Mexico and Guadeloupe sit on top of the group with three points each. Mexico has a plus two goal difference to Guadeloupe’s plus one. Panama, and Nicaragua are pointless, with Nicaragua last because of goal difference.
