Arriving at the Copa América seeking redemption after disappointing performances in the World Cup and the Concacaf Nations League, Mexico are on the verge of an early exit.
Salomón Rondón’s 57th-minute penalty means Venezuela advance to the Copa América quarter-finals after their 1-0 victory over El Tri, who missed a penalty of their own, on Wednesday night. Venezuela, who opened the tournament with a 2-1 win over Ecuador, are assured finishing among the top two in Group B.
“I’m happy that we were able to give some joy to the people in Venezuela, we played for that, but we need to remain calm and with our feet on the ground,” Venezuela coach Fernando Batista said. “We are going to enjoy this tonight, but tomorrow we are going to be focused on Jamaica.”
Mexico began their tournament with a 1-0 victory over Jamaica and have three points along with Ecuador, who defeated the Reggae Boyz 3-1 earlier on Wednesday. Mexico play Ecuador in Arizona on Sunday, and need a victory to advance.
“It’s a learning experience, but I’m proud of the team because they never stopped fighting. Now it’s up to us and we just talked about it in the locker room,” Mexico coach Jaime Lozano said. “The next game will put us in the next round, we are hurt now, but playing like this, it’s going to be hard for us to lose another game.”
In the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Mexico were eliminated in the first round for the first time since 1978. They lost to the US in the Concacaf Nations League final in March and have not beaten the Americans since 2019.
Venezuela ended a 13-game winless streak against El Tri. “Things did not go as expected tonight, but we still got 90 minutes, and no one is getting off this boat. We are going to do it,” Lozano said. “We have to take good out of this and move on. There’s just a few days ahead and we want to get back to play again, when things are hard it’s when we play our best.”
Before a crowd of 72,773 at SoFi Stadium, Brazilian referee Raphael Claus awarded the spot-kick when Julián Quiñones shoved Jon Aramburu in the penalty area. Rondón sent keeper Julio González the wrong way for his 42nd goal in 107 international appearances.
Mexico had a chance to rescue a point in the 87th minute when they were awarded a penalty of their own for a handball by Miguel Navarro. But Rafael Romo leapt to his right to push Orbelín Pineda’s attempt wide.
While the Vinotinto reached the quarter-finals for the third time in four tournaments, Mexico are on the verge of first-round elimination for the third time in their last four Copa América trips. Under Batista, the Venezuelans have just two losses in their last 15 matches, to Italy and Colombia.
Mexico’s midfield were without Edson Álvarez, who injured a hamstring against Jamaica and will miss the rest of the tournament. Defender César Montes was hurt against Venezuela and was replaced at the start of the second half.