Mexico and Panama advanced to the semifinals of the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup this Saturday after beating Costa Rica and Qatar, respectively, in the quarterfinals played in Arlington, Texas.
In a match decided in the second half, the Mexican team beat the Costa Rican team 2-0. Orbelín Pineda made it 1-0 for Mexico at the beginning of the second half (52′) in a penalty converted after a foul by Kendall Waston on Henry Martín.
The second goal was scored by Érick Sánchez in the final stretch (87′) with a shot at the edge of the small area, after a pass by Roberto Alvarado.
In the semifinals, Mexico will face the winner of the match between Guatemala and Jamaica this Sunday at the TQL stadium in Cincinnati.
🇲🇽 We close the night with the #He noticed presented by @Corona_Football.
🗞 With goals from @orbelin90 y @Erick29810we beat 🇨🇷 2-0 and settled in the Gold Cup Semifinal. #MexicoJuega pic.twitter.com/y2jccKzH41
– National Team (@miseleccionmx) July 9, 2023
Panama overtakes Qatar with Díaz hat-trick
Earlier, Panama thrashed Qatar 4-0 with a remarkable performance by Ismael Díaz, who scored three goals in the match.
Edgar Bárcenas opened the scoring with a header in the 19th minute. At 56 minutes, Díaz received a deep pass in the Qatar area and made it 2-0, beating goalkeeper Salah Zakaria.
The third was scored by Díaz at 63 with a shot from inside the area. Two minutes later, the Central American striker made it 4-0 with a cross shot. In this way, Díaz broke the record for the fastest hat-trick in the history of the Gold Cup: 9 minutes.
The previous mark of 11 minutes was divided between the Mexican Luis Roberto Alves ‘Zague’ against Martinique in the 1993 Gold Cup group stage and the Haitian Frantzdy Pierrot against Bermuda in the 2021 preliminary stage.
In the semifinals, Panama will face the winner of the game between USA and Canada, which will be played this Sunday at the TQL stadium.
Source: Gazetaesportiva
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