After a scoreless first half, Mexico scored early in the second half, then dominated Haiti in route to a
convincing 3-1 win.
Mexico vs Haiti was the premier CONCACAF matchup on Thursday.
Both teams entered Day 9 fighting for first place in Group B of the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup. The
Mexican National team, who have won this competition eight times, began this year's event with a 4-0
victory against Honduras on Sunday. Haiti, whose best showing in the Gold Cup came when they lost to
Mexico in the semifinals in 2019, also were victorious that day as they edged Qatar 2-1.
Given the relatively close proximity to the Southern border, State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ has
served as a home field of sorts to the team from Mexico over the past few years. The match between
Haiti and Mexico was the second of the evening, and it was clear that the paid attendance of 34,000
plus, overwhelmingly turned out to cheer on the red and green.
Haiti was able to neutralize Mexico’s attacking offense in the first half, but Henry Martín’s header, with
less than a minute gone in the second half, started the scoring blitz for Mexico. They went on to beat
Haiti, clinching a berth in the CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinals.
Mexico came into the match after days of turmoil and stress. Diego Cocca was fired as coach of Mexico's
national team on Monday, and 3 players were given suspensions after on field altercations against the
US Men’s National Team in their previous match. Jaime Lozano will lead the Mexican national team
going forward.
In the early match, Honduras scored with seconds left in extended time to even the score at 1 apiece
against Qatar.