México defeats Costa Rica in a dramatic penalty shootout and will play Haiti in the semifinals of the 2019 Gold Cup!

The curse of “No Era Penal” nearly created nightmares for the Mexican team once again. Five years after that horrific afternoon in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the Mexican National team fans experienced the pain of a wrong call all over again. This time thanks to the referee who called a penalty kick on a foul over Joel Campbell on Luis Chaka Rodriguez’s slide tackle. The challenge on Campbell appeared to be clean as Chaka touch the ball first then made contact with the player, but not only that, the tackle occurred just outside the area.

After cruising in the group stage, Mexico stepped into the quarterfinals to face Costa Rica. Mexico had won all their games in the group, defeating Cuba 7-0, Canada 3-1, and Martinique 3-2. They finished first in the group with 9 points and scored 13 goals in favor and got 3 scored against.

Costa Rica in the other hand was shockingly 2nd place in group B with 6 points. They beat Nicaragua 4-0, Bermuda 2-1 and had a big upset versus Haiti 1-2.

Tata Martino came out into this game with his best men, after giving rest to a few in the last game versus Martinique like Ochoa, Dos Santos, Chaka and recovering Rodo Pizarro and Edson Alvarez from their injuries.

The first half was a very closed match, with very poor action. Mexico had a slight advantage in possession of the ball with 55% but only 1 shot on target that ended up in el Tri’s first goal.

At minute 44 just a minute short from going into the locker rooms, on what would’ve been Mexico’s worst first half since Tata took the team, Rodolfo Pizarro took the ball the way through the left wing and set up Raul Jimenez with a pass, that even though RJ9 struggled a little bit, he put the ball in the back of the net to give el Tricolor the advantage 1-0.

The second half started pretty much the same, with the same intensity but not much action near the goals the penalty came in the 50th minute. Most Mexican players were puzzled as to why the referee had made that call. But unfortunately, since there is no usage VAR in this cup, there was no review. There is a mystery as to why the technology is not being used in this tournament since VAR is in use in the top leagues from CONCACAF, Liga MX, and MLS.

Controversy aside, Los Ticos legendary player, Bryan Ruiz, stepped onto the PK spot and converted his shot with no problem. Their captain put the scoreboard even 1-1.

Mexico became offensively aggressive and created several opportunities in the closing minutes of the game, but so did Costa Rica. Each team had chances to close out the game, but the players were unable to convert. The game went into Extra Time, but after 30 minutes of back and forth, neither team could finish the game.

It was time for penalties and there were no more nails to chew on to. The curse of the PKs for Mexico had everyone nervous. Ell Tri as everyone knows has a history of losing and getting eliminated in competitions via this way.

Raul Jimenez took our souls away for a few minutes, after he took the first shot and missed it, something unusual for him, since we’ve known him as a matador when it comes to penalties.

The ghosts of the PKs were creeping back as we saw Celso Borges(CR) Luis Montes(M) Elias Aguilar(CR) and Roberto Alvarado(M) all scored their shots. Our color came and souls came back to us after Randall Leal missed his shot sending the ball out by the left post.

Jesus Gallardo(M) Oscar Duarte (CR) Hector Moreno(M) and Fransisco Calvo(CR) all put the ball in the net to finish the first round of PKs with 4-4 still tied.

The sudden death round came and now the pressure was on, if you miss you go home! Carlos Salcedo for Mexico stepped up and made his shot. Keysher Fuller stepped up for Los Ticos but Memo Ochoa stopped the ball, to become the hero for El Tri.

What a night! A real test for el Tata came tonight, and he barely passed it. Now, Mexico will go onto the semifinals to face Haiti who on paper it looks like should present no real threat for El Tri, but Haiti has become the Dark Horse of this tournament. As we mentioned, they beat Costa Rica to advance in the first place of group B and overcame a 2-0 deficit to defeat a formidable Canadian squad who gave Mexico a few challenges of their own.

The players knew this was a tough victory and celebrated with a group picture after the game in the locker rooms.

So the day, time and location are set. It will be Mexico vs Haiti, Tuesday at 9:30 pm ET from Glendale, Arizona for a spot in 2019 Gold Cup Final