Panama beats Mexico in Gold Cup opener

PANAMA’S FIRST ever defeat or Mexico in Pasadena on Sunday, July 7, earned the Mexican coach a shower of bottles and garbage as his team left the field.

The 2-1 Panama victory in the Concaf Gold Cup opening game also led to an outburst of insults from Mexico’s sports publications, some of whom bordered their pages in black.

Mexico are the reigning champions
Gabriel Torres scored twice to lead Panama to the victory at the Rose Bowl.
Mexico, Panama, Canada and Martinique are competing in Group B. The top two teams will advance, along with two of three third-place finishers. Mexico has work to do to advance.
Mexico, an automatic qualifier in the Gold Cup tournament, lost its two prep matches prior to this tournament.
''All the teams in the world, teams like Real Madrid and FC Barcelona have these types of situations,'' Mexican CoachDe La Torre said. ''We have to keep working to get back in the best circumstances possible.''
Panama showed Mexico how much work is needed.
''It's important to start like this,'' Panama coach Julio Dely Valdes said. ''We have said that we needed to come in here and get results. We won.''
Panama was playing without Blas Perez, who was in the Los Angeles area but playing for his Major League Soccer team, FC Dallas. He should be available for Panama's next match.
Dely Valdes has a strategy that uses a lot of his younger players on the squad. Torres made it pay off.
''Players like Gabriel Torres have done a good job,'' he said. ''We have to keep giving young players minutes and opportunities. We have to keep giving them minutes to keep doing a good job.''