Panama Opens With Win Over Colombia

Luis Tejada scored midway through the second half to give Panama a 1-0 victory over Colombia in the opening CONCACAF Gold Cup match Wednesday night at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

Goalkeeper Jaime Penedo made five crucial saves to preserve the shutout as Panama got its first Gold Cup victory since the tournament’s creation in 1991.

Tejada received a crossing pass from Julio Medina deep in the goal area and headed in a shot past diving Colombian goalkeeper Farid Mondragon in the 70th minute.

Colombia had one serious scoring threat after Tejada’s goal, but Penedo deflected Aldo Ramirez’s shot outside the six-yard box in the 78th minute.

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Christopher Birchall and Maynor Figueroa exchanged first-half goals as Trinidad and Tobago and Honduras tied, 1-1, in the other first-round Gold Cup match at Miami.

Both teams had opportunities to break the deadlock late in the second half.

Honduras’ Wilmer Velasquez missed an open goal when his shot deep in the goal area sailed above the crossbar in the 72nd minute. Trinidad and Tobago’s Colin Samuel hit the crossbar with his shot from 25 yards nine minutes later.

The second set of first-round games will be played Saturday.