Mexico saw their undefeated run against Venezuela come to an end as they lost 1-0 at SoFi Stadium in California, leaving their chances of progression to the Copa América knockout phase hanging in the balance.
The Mexicans were unbeaten against La Vinotinto in 13 previous head to head meetings before Wednesday’s encounter.
Having secured a 1-0 win over Jamaica last weekend, Mexico looked to get on the front foot from the off and registered the game’s first effort on target inside 10 minutes when Julián Quiñones fed Luis Chávez.
The Dynamo Moscow man’s shot from an angle was parried by Venezuela goalkeeper Rafael Romo, and after Yordan Osorio vitally stepped in to prevent Quiñones following in on the rebound, Carlos Rodríguez fired wastefully wide.
Not too long after that, the two-time Copa América runners-up had another opportunity to open the scoring as Chávez turned provider this time, finding striker Santiago Giménez with a pinpoint ball forward, but the Feyenoord marksman saw his shot smothered by the onrushing Romo, who was subsequently grateful to gather in when Rodríguez was picked out by Quiñones, but his header was tame.
At the other end, Salomón Rondón had Venezuela’s only big first-half chance, striking the base of Julio González’s left-hand post shortly after the half-hour mark following brilliant work by Jefferson Savarino.
However, La Vinotinto, as they did in their 2-1 victory over Ecuador on matchday one, began the second period with much more venom, with the lively Yeferson Soteldo stinging González’s palms before Rondón saw a scuffed effort trickle wide.
It wasn’t long though before the 34-year-old was celebrating scoring a record-extending 42nd Venezuela goal, slotting home a penalty after Jon Aramburu had been bundled over in the box by Quiñones following excellent interplay with half time substitute Cristian Cásseres.
Had Rondón and Yangel Herrera not then clashed headers when attempting to meet Soteldo’s sumptuous cross, the lead may have been doubled. Both men were fine to continue, but it was inevitable that Mexico would start to regain the battle for territory.
However, they struggled to convert possession into clear-cut opportunities, but must have thought that they would level late on when Miguel Navarro was eventually penalised for handball after a VAR review, only for Romo to guess the right way and deny Orbelín Pineda from 12 yards.
Venezuela held on in stoppage time thanks to more Romo heroics and have now only lost once in their last nine games (W4, D4), moving to within a point of sealing their spot in the last eight. However, Mexico must now beat Ecuador to give themselves the best chance of doing the same.
Source: Flashscore.com
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