Mexico wins the Copa Oro 2023 beating Panama in the Final
A full SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles witnessed the return of Mexico to the winning path in Copa Oro. After falling against the United States in 2021, Mexico reclaimed the title against a Panamanian team that has shown an upwards trajectory since coach Thomas Christiansen joined in 2020.
Mexico came from an almost flawless tournament with four victories and one surprising loss against Qatar in group stages, they tallied 12 goals for and only 2 goals against. Meanwhile, Panama came undefeated with 11 goals for and 5 against. They had previously knocked the US out in the semifinals, although the Americans decided to bring an alternative squad to this edition of Copa Oro.
The Game
Mexico came into the game well balanced, not eager to look for the opening goal and instead prioritizing tactical order. Panama felt very confident inside the pitch, stretching the field large and wide and attacking Mexico at high speed taking advantage of the few spaces left behind by the Mexicans.
Panama had plenty of chances, mostly generated with large passes and quick counters. Mexico also had decent chances, however neither team was able to really put the other goalie to work hard, mostly because both defenses contained appropriately all attempts by the opposing team.
At the 33’ Ochoa cleared the ball, Henry headed it forwards to continue with the fast counter and Antuna held the ball and served back to Orbelin, who carried the ball forward for a few metres before opening the ball to Romo. He immediately crossed the ball to Henry Martin, who struck the ball inside the net. A magnificent counter attack by Mexico which was unfortunately called off by the var due to it being offside.
Ten minutes later, Mexico came with another clear opportunity after a corner kick. Orbelin Pineda found himself all alone in the centre of the box and shot the ball to the goal, unfortunately for Mexico, the Panamanian goalie Orlando Mosquera was able to stop the shot despite it being aimed low and to the left corner of his goal. Mosquera left the ball rebound and Henry Martin took advantage of this and struck the ball one more time, but once again Mosquera stopped it. This was the closest attempt in the game outside for the called-off goal. .
The second half
The second half of the game was also intense and well played, with plenty of approximations, but these were correctly resolved by both defenders and goalies. This time around Panama had the closest chances, with a volley that passed just a few centimeters off Ochoa’s goal at the start of the second half and a great stop by Ochoa who contained a shot by Ivan Anderson who shot a few meters off the goal.
Henry Martin had a solid game, as did the rest of his teammates, but he was subbed at the 84’ to give way to Chaquito Gimenez. Just three minutes later, Orbelin Pineda got the ball after a failed attack by Panama and gave the ball to Gimenez. Gimenez did what he does best, retain the ball when he’s facing away from the opponent’s goal and turn around with the ball controlled, he successfully used his body to cover the ball from the defender to achieve this. Usually Chaquito does this closer to the goal but this time he had to carry the ball from just past the midline all the way to the other box, however he took advantage of the fact that Panama was not well positioned defensively because of their previous attempt to attack. After this he had only the keeper to go through and with a rather weak shot he was able to pierce the net. The match winner
With this victory Mexico reasserts its dominance over the area after losing three consecutive Concacaf finals against the US. While it’s true that neither the US nor Canada came with their A-teams, and Costa Rica didn’t bring their star Keylor Navas, Mexico also left some important players like Lozano out of the competition. Also, teams like Jamaica came with an interesting team full of Premier League Players, while Panama showed that they’ve progressed a lot in the past years, and Mexico ended up beating them both.
Now with this trophy under his name, ‘Jimmy’ Lozano strengthens the case for him to remain as head coach of the national team. He has shown that he can bring the best out of these players, that he knows them well, that he can coach a national team and that he can transmit this positive energy to the fans, who have flocked back to the stadiums, after a short stint of low-attendance games. He completely transformed the national team in a matter of weeks from a sad and defeated team to one with a winning spirit and good football. The future of the Mexican national team and Lozano remains to be seen.
