August 02, (THEWILL) – The men’s football team of the United States of America joined the continental winning pair of Argentina, that won the Copa America, and Italy, that won the Euro, as champions of continental football when they pulled off the upset of the competition and beat a near full-strength Mexico side 1-0 in the 2021 Gold Cup final in Las Vegas.
The USMNT defender Miles Robinson netted a dramatic set-piece goal with only three minutes remaining in extra time for the game-winner after a frantic goalless regulation time of exciting football by both countries.
Mexico’s Edson Alvarez has kept his goal post clean throughout the game, rebuffing attempts by the Americans to find a way through until that 117th minute when some minds had starting preparing for a penalty-kick shootout, when Robinson’s goal came off the beautiful delivery by Kellyn Acosta.
It broke Mexican hearts as they had fought valiantly to take victory.
What will be disappointing the most is that they did not take their chances of breaking the deadlock in the first half, in which they dominated the game with several golden chances to open the scoring themselves.
Credit will go to the American goalkeeper Matt Turner, who did a yeoman’s job of keeping the rampaging El Tri at bay at the toughest periods of that half. However, the best chance of that first half came for the USA through Paul Arriola, who struck the outside of the right post near the half-hour mark to warn the Mexicans of the danger they posed.
In the second half, the dominance of Mexico was more curtailed. The USMNTl grew into a match that was fairly even by the end of regulation time. Orbelin Pineda had two of the best looks for Mexico, but he couldn’t convert early in the second half. Arriola and Matthew Hoppe had the best chances for the USMNT toward the end of the 90 minutes, but both attempts were unsuccessful.
The lengthy tournament and long final started to tell on the players as fatigue slowed down both sides. There were fewer chances as the extra time periods fizzled out. It seemed both sides had resolved to go to penalties before Robinson’s goal changed the entire outcome.
America therefore clinched their seventh Gold Cup and the first since 2017. Mexico had won the trophy eight times with Canada being the only other nation to win it in 2000, at the turn of the millennium. The USMNT also celebrated a second major final victory by the USA over Mexico after the CONCACAF Nations League triumph in June (3-2, also after extra time).
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
