Mexico beat Saudi Arabia 2-0 to advance to the semifinals of the 2025 Gold Cup, in a victory where the most notable thing was the way the triumph cheered the heart of the entire race gathered at the University of Phoenix stadium who did not hesitate to fill their stands to support the Tricolor.

A victory where Raúl Jiménez was once again important in encouraging his teammates to try to get their act together and that in the end they resolved the contest with goals from Alexis Vega in the 49th minute of running time and an own goal by Arab defender Abdullah Madu who in his eagerness to prevent Santiago Gimenez from shooting ended up embedding the ball in his own goal in the 81st minute.

That was the highlight of a performance that once again had many ups and downs by the national team led by Javier “Vasco” Aguirre who in relation to the game against Costa Rica presented some variations such as the start of Julián Araujo and Gilberto Mora, as well as Erick Lira, as the variations in the squad that tied with the Ticos.

Really the most important thing was the response of the race that did not hesitate to come to the stadium located in the city of Glendale, Arizona, to cheer on the Mexican national team and have a reason to be proud of their origins in the face of the great immigration problems they are going through in the United States due to the tightening of immigration measures by the current administration of President Donald Trump.

For that reason, the victory had a greater significance, because it was not Alexis Vega's goal, much less the one scored in their own goal by the Arabs, but rather the fans were able to forget their problems a little to enjoy and cheer on the performance of the Aztec team, which tried to live up to expectations and ended up strictly fulfilling its obligation to advance to the semifinals of the Gold Cup to face Honduras next Wednesday, who surprised by eliminating Panama on penalties after a distressing 1-1 draw in regular time.

Lights and shadows in football

In strictly football terms, the Mexican national team once again fell short, especially because Javier Aguirre continues to search for the pieces that can become the right cog to give the team defensive solvency and attacking power.

Now it started with changes in relation to the match against Costa Rica, such as the participation of Gilberto Mora in the midfield to replace the injured Luis Montes, Julián Araujo on the right wing to replace Jorge Sánchez, Jesús Gallardo to replace Mateo Chávez, Erick Lira to replace César Montes, with Edson Álvarez playing in central defense.

Thus, Mexico tried to have Marcel Ruiz and Alexis Vega generate football along with Roberto “Piojo” Alvarado to provide balls to Raúl Jiménez, who once again became the best man for the Mexican national team, but who has to make a great effort to find clear options.

This time it was no exception against an Arab team that was very closed at the back, who planted two lines of four in front of their goal and in the first 45 minutes did very little to create danger against Luis Malagon's goal.

However, Mexico lacked creativity in that area, because while it is true that Gilberto Mora and Marcel Ruiz were determined to encourage their teammates' arrivals on the wings and combine in the center of the field to generate danger, in reality the lower team of their opponents had a quiet first half.

The best: the two goals

For the second half, the goal by Alexis Vega after an assist by Raúl Jiménez seemed to give the Mexican team more leeway from minute 49, when they managed to open the scoring, but in reality they still lacked greater depth, despite the efforts of Marcel Ruiz and Gilberto Mora in trying to be the generators of arrivals.

This remained the panorama for the rest of the match until in the 81st minute a Mateo Chávez cross chipped in allowed Santiago Giménez to arrive wide to finish, but with the inopportune leg of Madu who ended up embedding the ball in his own goal to leave the final score 2-0 and advance to the semifinals against Honduras.