Mexico and Venezuela advanced to the Centennial Copa America knockout phase with Group C round-robin victories over Jamaica and Uruguay, respectively.
Mexico's early domination of ball possession led to a goal in the 16th minute of Thursday night's game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, when Jesus Manuel Corona set up Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez for a perfectly placed header that snuck just inside the right post off the fingertips of Jamaican net minder Andre Blake.
Mexico then managed to preserve that lead for the remainder of the first half, with defender Yasser Corona getting in the way of one shot inside the area by Garath McCleary and goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa turning back another by Jobi McAnuff after some shoddy defense by El Tri.
The Mexicans' attack stalled in the latter part of the first half but came alive after the intermission, eventually leading to a second goal in the 81st minute on a left-footed strike by Oribe Peralta that snuck inside the far post.
Jamaica thought it deserved a penalty in the 64th minute when Nestor Araujo appeared to foul striker Clayton Donaldson in the box, but the referee did not blow his whistle.
With the 2-0 win, Mexico clinched a quarterfinal berth and will play Venezuela on Monday in Houston to determine first place in Group C.
In Thursday night's first game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Venezuela - a traditional baseball powerhouse that has made strides in recent years on the soccer field - advanced to the knockout stage with a 1-0 victory over Uruguay.
The Uruguayans did not manage a single shot on goal in the entire first half, while also appearing out of sorts in midfield and playing porous defense.
Venezuela capitalized in the 36th minute when Alejandro Guerra fired a shot from midfield that nearly surprised goalkeeper Fernando Muslera.
The net minder managed to tip the ball off the crossbar, but Salomon Rondon was there to knock it home at close range.
Uruguay had chances to tie the game, but Cristhian Stuani misfired off a corner kick early in the second half and Edinson Cavani fired wide to squander a golden one-on-one opportunity against goalkeeper Dani Hernandez with time winding down.
Uruguay will take on Jamaica, both already eliminated from this hemispheric competition, on Monday in Santa Clara, California, in the final Group C matchup.
Source: EFE
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