Mexico’s national soccer team will get the chance to take back the Concacaf Gold Cup this weekend after narrowly beating Honduras on Wednesday.
El Tri, as the team is known, played the semi-final against Honduras at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, where around 70,000 fans attended the event. It will now go on to play its fourth consecutive Gold Cup Final.
While Mexico dominated possession throughout the match, the team was not able to score in the first half. However, Mexico’s manager, Javier Aguirre, nicknamed El Vasco, switched up the lineup in the second half, helping push the team to victory.
Mexico’s 16-year-old midfielder Gilberto Mora, a rising star known as “Chavito,” delivered a strong pass to striker Raúl Jiménez, who then scored in the 50th minute against Honduran goalkeeper Edrick Menjivar to put Mexico ahead.
Jiménez has now scored 42 goals for Mexico and is edging closer to Javier “Chicharito” Hernández’s national record of 52 goals.
The team’s captain, Edson Álvarez, scored another goal three minutes later, but after a lengthy VAR check, it was disallowed for being offside.
Mora made another would-be assist to Roberto Alvarado, but the winger was not able to score a second goal.
Mexico struggled to maintain its lead in the final minutes of the match after Vasco sent Mora off, and the players fought to keep possession of the ball. Honduras pressed hard late on but was ultimately unable to equalize.
The Mexico national team hopes to achieve a record-breaking 10th Gold Cup title, while the U.S. men’s national soccer team (USMNT) aims to win its eighth. The two teams have been widely considered the strongest throughout the tournament.
¡Concretamos el paso al gran partido! 🥳
Con la energía y la potencia que solo @G500 te da en cada trayecto, te traemos #LaCrónica del triunfo en Semifinales. ⛽️https://t.co/kudX6HBodQ 📰✍🏻#PorMéxicoTodo 🇲🇽
*Publicidad para México* pic.twitter.com/VVNXo1cQsa
— Selección Nacional (@miseleccionmx) July 3, 2025
The USMNT, which last won the Gold Cup final in 2021, beat Guatemala for a 2-1 win in the semi-final on Wednesday.
“It’s a ‘Clasico’, Concacaf direct rival. We have to win the ‘Clasico’ — I learned that from America — it will be a war,” Reuters reported Mexico’s goalkeeper Luis Malagón as saying.
The Gold Cup final will be played at the NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, on Sunday.
With reports from Reuters, Milenio and The New York Times
