The Gold Cup is coming up in a week and national teams are preparing for it. On Wednesday night, the Mexican National team played against Ghana in Houston. Yes, you read that right! A Mexican national team played on Wednesday night in Texas while another Mexican national team was preparing to face Germany in a semifinal match in Russia.

Mexico was forced to use two teams because of the two tournaments they had to be part of during the summer. Obviously, the Mexican ‘A’ team is in Russia representing CONCACAF in the FIFA’s Confederations Cup. The ‘B’ team, on the other hand, is the one preparing for the Gold Cup. So, this Gold Cup’s Mexican team, which is full of young players from Liga MX, beat Ghana at NRG Stadium 1-0 in Houston.

The match served as an experiment for Mexico, to realize what they have, to face the regional’s tournament. ‘El Tri’ struggled in defense as Ghana, which is a fast and vertical team, had several chances to score without much luck. Mexico controlled the possession of the football in midfield, but they seemed slow in offense as they try to use the sides to attack a Ghana team that played solid in defense. The two key players of the match for Mexico were its goalkeepers Moises Munoz and Jesus Corona. The two held a potent Black Star attack scoreless.  

Even though Ghana had more chances to score throughout the game, the goal came in when Mexican forward Elias Hernandez scored a penalty kick in the 32nd minute 1-0. The second half was a copy of the first one with Mexico controlling possession and Ghana waiting on an error that they could convert into a goal. At the end, the match finished with a victory for ‘El Tri’. However, the real winners for this match were the over 37,000 fans that enjoyed seeing their national teams played in Texas.

Now, Mexico will travel to Seattle, WA to face Paraguay to continue its preparation for the Gold Cup. Ghana meanwhile will face the USA in another Gold Cup preparation match in Connecticut.    

 

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