2025 Gold Cup Recaps: Panama Stunned Late by Honduras; Mexico Advances
A dominant Panama side never found their second goal, and Honduras' late equalizer and penalty heroics sees them through to the semis.
For the first time since 2013, Honduras will be playing in the Gold Cup semifinals thanks to a penalty shootout win over Panama. They’ll face Mexico which defeated Saudi Arabia in the second game of a quarterfinal double header yesterday from Glendale, AZ.
The quarterfinals continue today with Canada-Guatemala at 4 PM EDT and the United States-Costa Rica at 7 PM, both games being played in Minneapolis, MN.
HONDURAS 1 (5), PANAMA 1 (4)
Panama started like they have all tournament, quietly dominant and in control of the match. But despite their efforts, including forcing four saves out of Honduran keeper Edrick Menjivar and a number of other shots blocked, it took until right before halftime to get their breakthrough.
A turnover in their own third put Honduras’ Edwin Rodriguez in a precarious position on the ground, and his efforts to try and win the ball back tripped up Cristian Martinez inside the area. Ismael Diaz stepped up to dispatch the spot kick for his tournament-leading sixth goal of the tournament.
Panama however never found that second goal, despite a wonderful 65th minute play from Amir Murillo cutting in from the right wing only to see his shot parried away by Menjivar at full stretch. In the final fifteen minutes, Honduras would start to find the game, and Kervin Arriaga would see his shot saved off the line by a recovering Panama defense in the 76th minute.
Soon after, Los Catrachos would get their deserved equalizer. In the 82nd minute Honduras would send in a corner that would eventually fall to Carlos Pineda who blasted a shot towards goal…only to see his effort redirected off teammate Anthony Lozano into the net as the black jersey clad Hondurans broke off into two celebrations before merging as a team at the corner flag.
In the penalty kick shootout, the heroic Menjivar in the Honduran net, already with five saves, wouldn’t need to make another. Anibal Godoy hit the post for Panama, a VAR review overturned an Orlando Mosquera save for Panama though he did keep the Canaleros alive saving Lozano’s 5th penalty. But it was a painfully slow run up on Panama’s sixth kick by Eduardo Guerrero that sailed over leaving Carlos Pineda to dispatch the winner for Honduras, 5-4 in six rounds of penalties. You can watch the full PK shootout here if you like.
A disappointing exit for Panama, who were brilliant all tournament until the final fifteen minutes of this game. Their nearly 70 percent possession, 6 for 14 shooting, and 13-5 corner advantage wasted by not getting a second goal mostly to the heroics of Menjivar. It was the Honduran keepers’ flub against Curacao that gifted them an own goal and put the Catrachos spot in the knockouts in turmoil before they scored a late winner, so a tremendous individual reclamation story to go along with Honduras’ team one as well.
MEXICO 2, SAUDI ARABIA 0
There’s not a whole lot to talk about here. Saudi Arabia wasn’t really interested in attacking, so it was only a matter of time before Mexico broke through.
After stymying El Tri for the first half, Marcel Ruiz thought he had chipped in an opener just a few minutes after the restart, only to be denied by the crossbar. Mexico wouldn’t have to wait much longer, as Alexis Vega collected a through ball from Raul Jimenez on the left wing and flew towards goal. Vega’s first shot was denied by Saudi keeper Nawaf Al Aqidi but the follow up was slotted home and awarded after VAR check showed him level, overturning the far side AR’s initial flag.
Mexico would get a second in the closing minutes, substitute Mateo Chavez sending in a cross from the left sideline looking for Raul Jimenez. The bouncing ball ended up slightly behind Jimenez but unfortunately struck Saudi centerback Abdullah Madu, and the looping header eluded Al Aqidi for the second goal.
Saudi Arabia mustered just a single shot off target in the game and rarely threatened. Hopefully their experiences in CONCACAF will serve them well in their next round of World Cup qualification.
BRACKET OVERVIEW
For the second time this tournament Group C has disappointed me. Jamaica who I hoped would win the group, crashed out, and now the 2023 runners-up, Panama, join them with an early exit. The Canaleros were among the teams that I thought could bring down Mexico in the knockouts, but I guess the fatal flaw is not turning their dominance into more goals. You have to do that at this stage of the tournament and avoid the gamble that is penalties.
Full credit to Honduras, who like after their blowout loss to Canada in the opener, showed their resilience. It might have taken over an hour for them to find the game, but once they did, the equalizer felt inevitable.
Mexico and Honduras will meet in the semifinals on July 2nd at 10 PM EDT in Santa Clara, CA. The other semifinal, based on Sunday’s winners, will be at 7 PM EDT in St. Louis, Missouri.