Mexico beat Panama 1-0 to lift Gold Cup

INGLEWOOD, California (AP):

Eight months and two coaches after Mexico crashed out of an embarrassing World Cup, most of the same players triumphantly raised the Concacaf Gold Cup amid confetti and raucous cheers on Sunday night.

El Tri has reversed their fortunes with stunning speed, and their winning goal at SoFi Stadium came on an end-to-end play that was every bit as dramatic.

Late substitute Santiago Gimenez scored after an electrifying sprint in the 88th minute, and Mexico won the Gold Cup for the record ninth time with a 1-0 victory over Panama.

After Edson Alvarez slid to block Ivan Anderson's cross in the Mexico penalty area, Orbelin Pineda dribbled away and made a tremendous pass into the centre circle. Gimenez, the 22-year-old Feyenoord forward, dribbled past Harold Cummings and outraced Cummings and Fidel Escobar into the penalty area.

Gimenez scuffed a bouncing left-foot shot over goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera for his fourth goal in 18 international appearances and his second of the tournament.

"It's the biggest moment of my career," Gimenez said. "I just tried to get down the field quickly. We followed our principles throughout the game, and they worked perfectly. The result was great because there were a lot of competitive teams in this tournament."

The goal by the Argentina-born Gimenez, who came on only three minutes earlier, set off a frenzied celebration at a Southern California stadium packed with fans celebrating Mexico's revival in this biennial Concacaf tournament.

After Mexico was eliminated in the group stage of the World Cup for the first time since 1978, El Tri rebounded with an excellent tournament under interim coach Jaime Lozano, who took over the beleaguered programme only a month ago after a Nations League loss to the United States of America (USA).

"Today, the environment was like being in a World Cup," said Lozano, whose contract is only for this tournament. "It wasn't like a Gold Cup. I'm dreaming; after I saw a stadium like we saw today and to provide people with the happiness we've seen. Again, the team gave everything. We knew we were writing history."

Mexico, which allowed just two goals in their matches, won this tournament more than all other nations combined. The USA have seven Gold Cup titles, and Canada one.

Gimenez's heroics ended an inspiring Gold Cup run by Panama, which upset the USA in the semi-finals, to earn their third appearance in the final. Los Canaleros couldn't get several solid scoring chances past veteran Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa.

Panama also lost the Gold Cup final in 2005 and 2013, both to the USA.

"We gave everything we had," coach Thomas Christiansen said through a translator. "The team died standing. There is nothing I can regret about my players. Some people remove the (postgame) medals when they are the runners-up, but I told them they should be proud of the achievements because of the football they played."