Latest news with #JavierAguirre
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Mexico defeat Suriname to reach Gold Cup knockouts
Mexico found it tough but ultimately defeated Suriname to advance to the quarter-finals of the Gold Cup. Scorers: Montes 57', 63' It was a frustrating first-half for the Mexicans as they struggled to create quality chances despite having two thirds of possession. Advertisement Eventually, Mexico broke the deadlock as César Montes was left completely unmarked on a corner, scoring a well-placed header without even needing to jump. Minutes later, Mexico doubled their lead with another goal from a corner. This time, Montes' header deflected back to him off a Suriname defender, allowing Montes to tap in his second goal of the match. Notably, four of Mexico's five Gold Cup goals have been scored directly off of corners. At full-time, Mexico joined Costa Rica in the Gold Cup knockout stage, while Suriname were eliminated with two losses. Javier Aguirre's side will finish top of Group A with a victory against Costa Rica on Sunday. 📸 Omar Vega - 2025 Getty Images
New York Times
a day ago
- Sport
- New York Times
César Montes' scoring instincts power Mexico past Suriname to advance to Gold Cup knockout stage
ARLINGTON, Texas — The defenders did it again for Mexico. With the attack not firing, center back César Montes showed his scoring instincts Wednesday, converting two goals from corner kicks in a 2-0 win for El Tri over Suriname. The result, which qualifies Mexico for the knockout stage of the Gold Cup with a match still left to go, comes just days after Edson Álvarez scored twice in the tournament opener against the Dominican Republic. Advertisement After a disappointing attacking showing in that match, despite ending in a 3-2 Mexico win, manager Javier Aguirre opted to change his formation. He shifted away from the two-forward setup he had been using, keeping Raúl Jiménez in the starting lineup and sending Santi Gimenez to the bench. Relentless playmaker Alexis Vega also earned his first start since leading Toluca to the Liga MX title. The switch back to the one-forward setup El Tri used for much of 2024 didn't pay immediate dividends, and the crowd of 34,015 at AT&T Stadium became antsy, with some fans booing the display as players headed into the locker rooms for halftime. They were on their feet in the 57th minute, however, as Montes opened the scoring. After a series of corner kicks, just before the hour mark that Suriname was able to defend, Mexico finally broke through. Vega's corner kick went directly to an unmarked Montes, and the defender's header inside the near post beat Suriname goalkeeper Etienne Vaessen. Vaessen had made three saves by that point but in the first half had mostly been happy to watch Mexico's best attacking moves end in efforts whizzing well past his goal — including a pair from Álvarez, who spent the entire night in the midfield after shifting from the middle of the field to center back in the previous match. Montes' second goal was much less straightforward. Taking a corner kick from the opposite side, Vega again found Montes in the box. His diving header bounced off the chest of a Suriname defender and fell to the feet of Mexico winger Julián Quiñones. But despite still lying on the ground, Montes' sweeping kick beat his teammate to the ball — and beat Vaessen for the second goal of the night. Mexico thought it had a goal from an attacker in the 75th minute, with second-half substitute Cesar 'Chino' Huerta putting the ball in the back of the net after he started a move and received a return pass from Ángel Sepúlveda. But the Cruz Azul forward was offside when he received the pass, and the goal didn't count. Advertisement Though El Tri is already in the quarterfinals, it'll look to top the group by beating Costa Rica in the final match of the group stage Sunday. The Tacos, who also won their first two matches and are into the next round, are led by manager Miguel 'Piojo' Herrera, who led Mexico into the 2014 World Cup and won the 2015 Gold Cup before being let go because of a physical confrontation with a commentator the next day. Aside from beating the well-known manager, who went on to win a Liga MX title with Club América in 2018 and also coached Tigres and Club Tijuana before arriving in Central America this year, Mexico will also look to ensure the friendliest matchup in the quarterfinals. The winner of that showdown will play the runner-up in Group D, the group currently topped by the United States. But a slipup from either of the North American rivals could lead to an early meeting between two teams that came into the tournament hoping to win the continental championship.
New York Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Dominican Republic soccer is on a bold journey to raise hope and challenge baseball
This article is part of our Finding Fútbol series, a special feature produced by The Athletic to chronicle how the U.S.'s Hispanic communities celebrate and enrich the beautiful game. LOS ANGELES — Javier Aguirre felt the need to apologize. As the Mexico national team manager prepared his team to meet the Dominican Republic in the opening match of the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup, he noticed something on film. The DR soccer team wasn't just debuting in the Gold Cup to make up the numbers. The team was good. Advertisement 'If I have to be honest, I remember as a young player many years ago, the Dominican Republic had no visibility in soccer. It was known for baseball and … kind people,' Aguirre said this week. But the truth is, he wasn't so wrong. More than a few Mexico fans arriving at SoFi Stadium on Saturday joked the match might be more compelling if it were the World Baseball Classic rather than the continental soccer championship. After a spirited showing in a 3-2 loss to El Tri, with lovely goals from Peter González and Edison Azcona in defeat, it seemed everyone went home happy to have seen the teams play on the pitch instead of the diamond — and many were converted to an idea that is becoming more and more believable. The Dominican Republic might always be a 'baseball country,' but now it's a 'soccer country,' too. Marcelo Neveleff is Argentine, but he has been working as a coach in the United States since the 1990s, building a modest career that has primarily focused on working with youth players in Florida and California. In 2023, the call came for him to leave the Orlando City setup and take over as head coach of the Dominican Republic's senior men's national team. Neveleff quickly noticed that the DR had more in common with the U.S. soccer setup than it initially appeared. While the countries are very different, they are both relatively early in their development as soccer-loving nations and are still working out the best way to develop. Neveleff remembers Major League Soccer forming the Development Academy. In those matches, he watched teenagers develop into pros who quickly suited up for senior MLS teams, went abroad to Europe and eventually debuted for the U.S. senior national team. Unlike the massive U.S., however, Neveleff is optimistic the DR can borrow concepts from a nation like Uruguay, where a small group can easily scout multiple regions in the country. He is now pushing for a similar youth league to get started in the DR, where he said sometimes tournaments like the U-17 league start two days after the schedule is announced. Advertisement Even as he tries to overhaul the country's youth setup, the early results Neveleff has achieved with the DR have turned the heads not just of colleagues like Aguirre but also of other teams hoping to pry him away from the long-term plan he wants to carry out. 'You get calls and proposals to do something else, but my project — not just on the field but in life — is to leave a mark on Dominican football,' he told The Athletic before meeting Mexico. 'Maybe it's my ego or self-confidence speaking, but I'd like there to be a before and after Marcelo Neveleff. A legacy.' He's off to a good start. While the work began under previous leaders, the first significant achievement by Dominican soccer was qualifying for the 2024 Olympics, making a shocking run through the qualification rounds to the final of the 2022 Concacaf U-20 Championship, which was used to qualify teams for Paris. The manager used the international platform to help convince the large number of Dominican-eligible players in Spain, the United States and elsewhere to link up with the team's domestic base and raise the level not just of the U-23 team that went to the Olympics — with ex-Barcelona left back Junior Firpo one of the team's three overage players — but also the senior national team. Currently, six players on his Gold Cup roster play club soccer in Spain, and more veteran players are expected to join. Portugal-based, Germany-raised Heinz Mörschel was an early adopter. Spain-born González and Edgar Pujol, a Real Madrid youth prospect, joined up before the Olympics. While longtime Dominican target Mariano Díaz, the former Real Madrid forward, isn't participating in the Gold Cup, Nice midfielder Pablo Rosario completed his one-time switch from the Netherlands and made his debut this month. 'I couldn't say no,' Rosario told The Athletic. 'I think everyone outside the Dominican Republic thinks it's a country that didn't know about soccer, but now it's growing a lot. In a short time, we've gotten very far from where we came.' José Bautista put together a promising career as a baseball player. A six-time MLB All-Star, the Santo Domingo native is a huge soccer fan, so much so that he bought the Las Vegas Lights of the USL Championship after wrapping up his playing career by representing the Dominican baseball squad at the Tokyo Olympics. Advertisement 'It's no secret why we're better in baseball than most sports: It's where we've dedicated more resources,' he tells The Athletic. 'It's the sport that at the highest level has spent more money growing within our country, arming us with a path and giving us the resources to be great at it. 'A lot of young Dominican kids love baseball and play baseball for the love of the sport, but also because there's a path out of maybe hardships into a better life through the sport.' That was the case for Bautista and hundreds of others. More than 100 Dominicans were on MLB Opening Day rosters, surpassing the number from any other country besides the United States. All 30 MLB teams have an academy in the country, which houses residential programs that generally host between 80 and 100 young hopefuls, starting at the age of 16. The Dominican Football Federation reports that 15,000 male and female players are registered in the country, indicating that soccer still has a way to go in terms of competitive numbers. 'We could use a little more participation,' Bautista said. 'Community has to invest in this, but at the end of the day, it's up to our country, it's up to our nation's sport ministry, it's up to the federation, it's up to the soccer federation, our Olympic committee members to create that pathway. Easier said than done. It's not simple to achieve, but that's where it has to be.' When soccer players begin to emulate the success that baseball players, as well as basketball players, musicians and actors have enjoyed, there is no doubt that many Dominicans passionate about their country will follow. Already, the groundbreaking showings are winning over new fans. 'I'm a baseball fan, but I've been in Arizona for 19 years and have learned to appreciate soccer,' said Bienvenido Paredes, who traveled from Phoenix to see Los Quisqueyanos' opening match against Mexico. 'For me, it's a huge source of pride, something I can't describe, that the Dominican Republic is here in SoFi Stadium. We don't have a soccer tradition, but I'm proud the world can now know us for this, too.' Advertisement While Neveleff agrees, he gave a typical manager's response about what comes after the narrow loss to Mexico. 'In the Dominican we have football, not only beaches and baseball and basketball,' he said. 'We want people to get to know the soccer culture of our country.' 'We've got to win the first game in an international tournament,' he continued. 'I think this is a good moment, without lacking respect for Costa Rica and Suriname, which are the opponents coming up. It's the challenge we have as a national team. 'We went to a U-20 World Cup, the Olympics, we played in the Pan-American Games and we couldn't achieve a victory. It's time for the national team to take that jump. When it comes, it will be another achievement to celebrate, and another moment that shows the DR is a soccer nation leaping to new heights. The Finding Fútbol series is sponsored by Modelo. The Athletic maintains complete editorial independence. Sponsors have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
Al Arabiya
5 days ago
- Sport
- Al Arabiya
Mexico Overcomes Slow Start To Defeat Dominican Republic 3-2 In CONCACAF Gold Cup Opener
Defending champion Mexico overcame a slow start to defeat the Dominican Republic 3–2 on Saturday night in the CONCACAF Gold Cup opener. West Ham midfielder Edson Álvarez opened the scoring in the 44th minute. Fulham striker Raúl Jiménez added a goal in the 47th, and defender César Montes got another one in the 53rd. Jiménez is third on the Mexican career scoring list with 40 goals, trailing only Jared Borgetti's 46 and Javier Hernández's 52. 'It was a good win to start with. I congratulate my team who maintained their emotional balance. It was a hard-fought but fair victory,' Mexico coach Javier Aguirre said. 'Our rival did a lot of merit; they demanded us; they did a good job.' Costa Rica and Suriname, the other countries in Group A, play Sunday in San Diego. 'We were patient, we scored three goals, and it was an attractive match for the fans, although there are things that need to be corrected,' Aguirre added. Peter González scored in the 51st minute and Edison Ascona in the 67th for the Dominicans, who earned their first qualification as one of the four group winners in League B of the CONCACAF Nations League. The match at SoFi Stadium drew 54,309, most of them rooting for Mexico. There was uncertainty on how many Mexican fans would attend the match. On Friday, Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum urged US officials not to target individuals attending the game. Dozens of workers have been detained by federal immigration authorities in a series of raids in LA's fashion district and at Home Depot parking lots in Southern California. More than 100 people have been detained. Mexico can clinch a quarterfinal berth when it plays Suriname on Wednesday at Arlington, Texas, part of a doubleheader that includes the Dominican Republic facing Costa Rica.
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Mexico see off Dominican Republic in Gold Cup opener amid Ice concerns
Defending champion Mexico overcame a slow start to defeat the Dominican Republic 3-2 on Saturday night in a Concacaf Gold Cup group stage match. West Ham midfielder Edson Álvarez opened the scoring in the 44th minute, Fulham striker Raúl Jiménez added a goal in the 47th and defender César Montes got another one in the 53rd. Jiménez now has 40 goals with the Mexican national team and is six away from Jared Borgetti, in second place on the career scoring list for El Tri. Javier Hernández is Mexico's top scorer with 52. 'It was a good win to start with. I congratulate my team, who maintained their emotional balance. It was a hard-fought, but fair victory,' said Mexico coach Javier Aguirre. 'Our rival did a lot of merit, they demanded us, they did a good job.' Mexico leads Group A with three points while the Dominican Republic is at the bottom. Costa Rica and Suriname, the other countries in the group, will face off on Sunday in Snapdragon stadium in San Diego. 'We were patient, we scored three goals and it was an attractive match for the fans, although there are things that need to be corrected,' Aguirre added. Peter González in the 51st minute and Edison Ascona in the 67th scored for the Dominicans, who earned their first qualification as one of the four group winners in League B of the Concacaf Nations League. The match was played at SoFi stadium before 54,309 fans, most of them rooting for Mexico. There was uncertainty on how many Mexican fans would attend the match. On Friday, Mexico's president Claudia Sheinbaum urged US officials not to target individuals attending the game. Dozens of workers have been detained by federal immigration authorities in a series of raids in LA's fashion district and at Home Depot parking lots in Southern California. More than 100 people have been detained. Mexico will try to qualify for the next round next Wednesday when they play Suriname while the Dominican Republic will play Costa Rica. Both matches will be played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
