The U.S. and Mexican national teams are always in competition — even when they’re not playing each other.
So when the United States defeated Canada in the first game of Thursday night’s Gold Cup semifinals, the pressure was on El Tricolor to match their CONCACAF rivals.
Much to the relief of the crowd of 50,790 mostly pro-Mexico fans at Soldier Field, the Mexicans came through.
Mexico defeated Guadeloupe 1-0 to set up a final showdown with the U.S. on Sunday.
After watching several of its best scoring opportunities come up short in the first 70 minutes of the match, Mexico midfielder Pavel Pardo gave his team the lead with a rocket to the upper right corner from 30 yards away.
Mexico controlled the game’s tempo and allowed few scoring chances for Guadeloupe.
The game was physical at times, with Mexico defender Carlos Salcido having to be separated from Guadeloupe’s Jocelyn Angloma late in the game.
Angloma and Mexican goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez both received yellow cards in the 89th minute.
Guadeloupe players were especially physical with Cuauhtemoc Blanco.
“He has a lot of personality,” Mexico manager Hugo Sanchez said. “Besides that, he has a talent that all teams in the world would want.
“It might be hard to communicate with [Fire] teammates because of the language barrier, but he’s a jokester.”
Guadeloupe was the Gold Cup’s feel-good story as a small country of only 450,000 people. Playing in its first Gold Cup tournament, little was expected of the team.
Guadeloupe managed to advance from the group stages with a 1-1-1 record and then upset Honduras 2-1 in the quarterfinals.
“We came to play football,” Guadeloupe manager Roger Salnot said after the match.
“We came to let people know Guadeloupe does exist and they’re a good football team.”
Mexico nearly took the lead early in the second half on a Jared Borgetti header. Guadeloupe goalkeeper Franck Grandel managed to save the shot from 6 yards out to keep the game scoreless.
