Mexico Thumps South Korea 6-3, will face Brazil in Olympic Semifinals

Mexico beat South Korea 6-3 at the Yokohama International Stadium today and booked themselves a ticket to final four of the 2020 Olympic games.

Mexico’s offense was at full throttle the entire game beginning with 3 goals from Henry Martin, Luis Romo and Sebastian Cordova in the first half. The Mexican team overcame a slow start and was able to take control of the game thanks to great passing from Alexis Vega and the incredible composure at goal from Memo Ochoa.

Henry Martin opened up the score at the 12th minute when Luis Romo received a cross from Alexis Vega and headed the ball over to Martin for an easy tap in. South Korea quickly answered minutes later when Donggyeong Lee was able to shook Luis Romo with an impressive cutback and fire a powerful shot to beat Ochoa.

Romo would make up for his mistake before the 30th minute mark after he cut down the box and received an lofted cross from Alexis Vega. The Cruz Azul champion juggled the ball without dropping it and launched a left footed strike past the keeper. 

Ariel Antuna would play a role in Mexico’s 3rd goal when he was pushed from behind by a South Korean defender while in the box. The referee would call a penalty kick for Mexico and Sebastian Cordova would score his first of the night, giving Mexico a 3-1 lead into halftime.

The goal scoring would continue in the second half with South Korea’s Donggyeong Lee scoring his second of the night with another stunner past Memo Ochoa in the 51st minute. Henry Martin would score Mexico’s fourth goal after heading a free kick pass from Sebastian Cordova. 

Mexico’s goal barrage would not end there when Club America’s newest number 10 Sebastian Cordova would score Mexico’s best goal of the night. Cordova hit an outside the box shot that hit the bottom of the top crossbar to give El Tri a 3 goal lead. Diego Lainez would come in as a substitute near the end of the game and give the assist for Mexico’s 6th goal. The Real Betis winger easily weaved past 3 South Korean defenders and linked with Eduardo Aguirre that knocked the ball past the keeper. South Korea would score their 3rd of the night near the end of the match after a corner kick scramble.

Mexico will now face off against Brazil in the semifinals in a rematch of the 2012 Olympic Final in London. The Mexicans are guaranteed a chance at Bronze medal by qualifying into the semifinals. The match will take place on August 3rd at the Kashima Soccer Stadium.