Gold Cup: Mexico to play Haiti, which rallies to reach semifinals for first time
Haiti reached the semifinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup for the first time, overcoming a two-goal deficit to beat Canada 3-2 on Saturday night in Houston.
The 101st-ranked Haitians will play Mexico on Tuesday at Glendale, Ariz.
“All it takes is one goal and we can create history after that,” Andrew Jean-Baptiste told his Haiti teammates at halftime. “Miraculously, that’s exactly what happened. I pointed out that this may be a few guys’ last Gold Cup and I said, I’m going to go out there and give every single thing that I can possibly give and I want my brothers to follow with me.”
Jonathan David scored on a free kick in the 18th minute, his tournament-high sixth goal, and No. 78 Canada doubled its lead when Lucas Cavallini beat goalkeeper Jhony Placide in the 28th minute for his fifth goal.
Duckens Nazon cut the deficit in the 50th minute and Herve Bazile tied it in the 70th with a penalty kick. Wilde-Donald Guerrier scored the go-ahead goal in the 76th minute.
“The players all have certain qualities and they know that, as long as the match is going on, before the final whistle they have to fight on the field, not only for themselves but also the team,” coach Marc Collat said.
“We just looked at the fact that we had goals that could have been avoided and, despite the fact that Canada was dominating, we had opportunities we had created. If during the second half we were more serious, we could be more difficult for them and I think that’s what happened and we came back and that’s when Canada started to doubt.”
Mexico wins on PKs
Guillermo Ochoa swatted away a kick by Costa Rica’s Keysher Fuller to end a penalty shootout won by Mexico, 5-4, after the teams played to a 1-1 tie.
Raul Jimenez’s goal gave Mexico a 1-0 lead just before halftime, but Costa Rica tied the score on a penalty kick by Bryan Ruiz in the 52nd minute.
Jimenez missed Mexico’s first kick in the shootout, but Costa Rica’s Randall Leal missed his shot five kicks later. The shootout went to a sixth round, with Carlos Salcedo converting his kick before Ochoa made the game-ending save.
