Call it the icing on the cake. Mexico's U-23 soccer team vanquished its rival Honduras 2-1 Monday night, winning the Olympic qualifying tournament in Kansas City.
Since both finalists had already earned a ticket to the Summer Olympics, the win was a largely symbolic one. It's one Mexico will long savor, though, given that the team was embarrassingly disqualified four years ago.
"El Tri," as the team is called, did not lose any of the five games in the CONCACAF tournament. The players never stopped pressing under coach Luis Fernando Tena and on Monday night took to the field at Livestrong Sporting Park hungry for more goals. In all, Mexico scored 16 and only allowed two.
Honduras, on the other hand, spent most of the time playing defense, and even ended the night two men short because they had been ejected. Even so, Mexico was nearly able to score in the first half.
In the opening moments of the second half, Honduras player Romell Quito received a pass through the middle that he was able to head into the net, putting his team ahead.
The Mexicans stepped up their offense and looked to attack from the sides, be it with Miguel Ponce on the left or Javier Aquino on the right.
At minute 75, one of the two Mexican players who had been key in the tournament, Marco Fabián, delivered the tying goal.
The midfielder from Chivas fired a shot from outside the area just above the top left side of goalkeeper José Mendoza to even the score and set off celebrations in the stands.
After he scored, Fabián ran toward the bench to celebrate with teammate David Cabrera, who was injured in Saturday's game against Canada and will not be able to play for six months.
The game went into overtime. Erik "El Cubo" Torres nearly scored on two occasions.
But it would not be until minute 116 that Mexico would seal the deal.
Ponce, who grew up in San Ysidro, and who had earlier clinched Mexico's ticket to the Olympics with a "golazo," would again be the hero of the night.
Ponce, who plays for Chivas, took a central pass from Israel Jiménez and fired a shot to the goalkeeper's right, scoring the winning goal.
Then the referee blew the final whistle, a sweet ending to Mexico's quest to return to the Olympics.
editorial@sandiegored.com
