Mexico defeats Dominican Republic 3-2 to open the Gold Cup despite underwhelming performance

Despite struggling, Mexico defeated the Dominican Republic 3-2 on Saturday in the opening match of the 2025 Gold Cup, which was played at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., in front of 54,309 fans.

Edson Álvarez, in the 44th minute, Raúl Jiménez, in the 47th minute, and César Montes, in the 53rd minute, scored Mexico's goals. Peter González, in the 51st minute, and Edison Azcona, in the 67th, scored for the Dominican Republic.

"I give a lot of credit to the opposing team. They are a well-worked team with a very tight defense that cost us a lot in the first half, and in counterattacks they made a little bit of a dent on us," commented Javier Aguirre, Mexico's coach.

"Our goalkeeper didn't have much work to do, but they were accurate with their two goals," Aguirre added.

Regarding the Dominican Republic's Gold Cup debut against the defending champion, Argentine coach Marcelo Neveleff said: "We based our game model on our knowledge of our players and on the study we made of the Mexican national team and how we could break them. ... We wanted to play as equals.

The Dominicans came out to play imposing pressure and with a complicated set-up of a back five and four midfielders, which showed Mexico's lack of inventiveness and variation.

The “Quisqueyanos” solved in a providential way the first two opportunities for “El Tri.”

In the 18th minute, Pablo Mañón, almost on the goal line, blocked a shot by Santiago Giménez. Two minutes later, goalkeeper Xavier Valdez made a one-handed save on a Raúl Jiménez shot from the front line.

The Caribbean team withstood the rival's dominance and launched a couple of counterattacks to cause concern in the Mexican back line.

Near halftime, Mexico took a 1-0 lead on a set piece. Orbelín Pineda took a right-wing corner kick to the near post, where Álvarez appeared to make it 1-0 with a header.

Very close to the equalizer

As soon as the second half began, in the 47th minute, Mexico's two strikers combined to make it 2-0. Giménez set up Jiménez in the box, who took a touch that slipped through the goalkeeper's legs.

The Dominican Republic made it 2-1 in the 51st minute with a cross shot from González inside the box.

In the 53rd minute, from another corner kick, Álvarez's header bounced off the head of César Montes and ended up inside the goal for 3-1.

In a fast, vertical play, the Dominicans came within 3-2. Azcona beat defender Jorge Sánchez one-on-one and finished with a powerful shot.

In the final minutes, the Dominican Republic overwhelmed “El Tri,” which reached the end of the game disfigured, outplayed and subdued.

"The opponent pushed us to the limit, it was a hard-fought but fair victory," Aguirre summed up. "There are things to correct, but it's a good win to start with."

Neveleff concluded: "I am very happy with the performance, but not with the result. We have to start winning these types of matches and start growing to be the team we want to be. In the end we had chances to equalize."

Thus, Mexico took the lead in Group A with 3 points, and the Dominican Republic remained without points.

On Wednesday, the Dominicans will face Costa Rica and the Mexicans will face Suriname.

Lineups

Mexico: Luis Malagón - Jorge Sánchez, Israel Reyes (Carlos Rodríguez 46), César Montes (Jesús Orozco 83), Jesús Gallardo (cautioned 90+6) - Érik Lira, Edson Álvarez, Roberto Alvarado, Orbelín Pineda (Alexis Vega 46) - Santiago Giménez (Julián Quiñones 73) (cautioned 90+5), Raúl Jiménez (César Huerta 83). Coach Javier Aguirre.

Dominican Republic: Xavier Valdez - Joao Urbáez (Juan Pineda 90), Jimmy Kaparos, Pablo Mañón, Edgar Pujol, Noah Dollenmayer (Luiyi de Lucas 61) - Jean López (cautioned 77), Heinz Mörschel (cautioned 65) (Ronaldo Vásquez 79), Peter González, Edarlyn Reyes (Edison Azcona 61) - Dorny Romero (Erick Paniagua 79). Coach Marcelo Neveleff.