Mexico scrape past Costa Rica in quarterfinals; Panama thump Qatar | OneFootball

The 2023 Gold Cup knockout rounds got underway this evening, as two of the four quarter-finals were played out. Here is what happened across the games on Saturday night.

Mexico vs Costa Rica

Scorers: Pineda (PEN) 52′, Sánchez 87′

Mexico struggled to breakdown a resolute Costa Rica low-block in the opening 45 minutes.

As their frustration grew, so did Costa Rica’s threat on the break. Luckily for Mexico however, their central American counterparts were missing their shooting boots on the night.

The deadlock was finally swung after the break when Kendall Waston bundled into Henry Martín inside the Costa Rica penalty area, forcing the referee to award El Tri a chance from the spot.

The subsequent spot-kick was coolly dispatched by Orbelín Pineda to fire Mexico into the lead and force Costa Rica out of their shell.

A late strike from second-half substiture Érick Sánchez doubled Mexico’s lead, easing the tension of the dying minutes to book their spot in the semi-finals.

Jaime Lozano’s men will face the winner of Guatemala and Jamaica.

Panama vs Qatar

Scorers: Bárcenas 20′, Díaz 56′, 63′, 65′

Panama were all over the tournament’s invitees, Qatar, from the first whistle, and it did not take long for them to be rewarded for their pressure.

A slick team move was capped off by Édgar Bárcenas at the back-post, snatching the lead for the Panamanians inside the opening 20 minutes.

While Qatar caused Panama some problems after the break, their hard work was undone before the hour the mark by a superb counter-attacking move finished off by Ismael Díaz, doubling Panama’s lead.

Díaz set the AT&T Stadium alight in the following ten minutes, bagging two more goals to secure his hat-trick and send Panama to the semi-finals in style.

Los Canaleros now await the winner of Canada’s showdown with United States on Sunday evening.