Rafael Marquez and Mexico were unable to advance to the Gold Cup final. (AP Images)
Roman Torres scored the game-winner midway through the second half
to set up a date with the United States in the CONCACAF tournament's
final Sunday in Chicago.
Panama's Blas Perez opened the scoring just minutes into the match
and Mexico's Luis Montes provided the equalizer before halftime.
The last time Mexico lost a Gold Cup semifinal match was back in
1991. Panama has only advanced to the final once before in the team's
history.
The two teams met in the opening match of Group A on July 7, with
Panama earning a surprising 2-1 win over El Tri. The Central Americans
were the home team on Wednesday after winning Group B.
Panama struck first to once again shock El Tri, which clearly had
home-field advantage playing driving distance from the Mexican border.
In the 13th minute, midfielder Alberto Quintero dished a pass to Perez
on the right side of the six-yard box and the forward blasted a shot
past goalkeeper Jonathan Orozco.
It was the FC Dallas player's 32nd international goal and 10th in Gold Cup play during his career.
Mexico, however, wouldn't take long to bounce back and make things
interesting after Panama continued to poor on the attack early.
Following some fancy dribbling from Marco Fabian, the Chivas midfielder
found Montes at the far post for a beautiful header into the back of the
net to tie the match at one apiece.
Unfortunately for the pro-Mexico crowd and several CONCACAF fans who
would have liked to see El Tri and the U.S. - the two highest-ranked
teams from the region - battle it out in the final, that would be the
only shining moment for Jose Manuel de la Torre's squad.
Panama, which cruised to a 6-1 victory over Cuba in the
auarterfinals, stunned the Mexicans in the 61st minute when Roman Torres
swooped in for a header off a Gabriel Torres coner kick.
In desperate need of the equalizer, Mexico had a pair of
opportunities in the final 10 minutes of play. First, second-half
substitute Isaac Brizuela nearly chipped the ball over Orozco, but the
keeper was able to deflet it on top of the net. Then, Javier Orozco sent
a header just wide of the Panama post.
They continued to push toward the end, but it wasn't enough.
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