By Chris Wright
After a fairly mundane first-half that saw just one goal plundered, the second half of last night’s CONCACAF Gold Cup group stage tie between Mexico and Trinidad & Tobago proved to be an absolute jamboree.
Indeed, all holy hell broke loose after the break with seven further goals scored in total – goals that saw El Tri wind up squandering a 2-0 lead to draw 4-4 in the very last minute of the game.
Carlos Vela put Mexico 2-0 up in the 51st minute before three quick-fire unanswered goals from Trinidad & Tobago saw the Soca Warriors edge in front by the time the 67th minute had elapsed.
Mexico were far from done and subsequently rallied with another two-goal blitz in the 88th and 90th minute to haul themselves back into a 4-3 lead as the game ticked over into injury time.
However, with the full-time whistle a matter of seconds from sounding, Trinidad & Tobago then won themselves a 93rd minute corner kick.
The fraught Mexican fans in the corner bombarded Joevin Jones with a deluge of debris and detritus (and a green laser pen) as he prepared to take the corner in an effort to put the midfielder off his stride.
Unperturbed, Jones defied the hail of garbage to swing a pearler into the box that was met by the head of Yohance Marshall and the rest, as they say, was a totally manic end to an already ridiculous football match!
The whistle sounded, the match ended four goals apiece and Trinidad & Tobago celebrated wildly knowing full well that the result secured their place at the top of Group C with their vanquished Mexican opponents finishing in second place behind them.
The final standings assured that Trinidad & Tobago will have to play Panama in the quarter-finals while Mexico face the altogether sterner task of turning Costa Rica over.
No wonder they were so pleased with themselves…
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