Andres Guardado scored a 124th-minute penalty as Mexico beat Costa Rica 1-0 after extra time to advance into the semi-finals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup in East Rutherford this morning.
A matter of moments before the clash was poised to be decided by penalties, Oribe Peralta went to ground under a challenge from Roy Miller inside the box.
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Captain Guardado, who scored two in the group stage, made no mistake from the spot to break La Sele hearts and keep under-fire coach Miguel Herrera in the job.
El Tri came closest to breaking the deadlock on 18 minutes when Paul Aguilar's drive was palmed away by Guillermo Ochoa, but both struggled in the creation of clear goalscoring chances.
On 35 minutes, Johan Venegas spurned the best opportunity of the clash when he clipped over the bar from close range after latching on to Joel Campbell's teasing ball.
The Mexicans took the warning sign and made inroads toward netting the opener as Guardado let fly from range, but Esteban Alvarado tipped it away at the crucial moment to ensure parity at the break.
Herrera's side stepped up their pursuit of a goal after the interval when Peralta struck the post, before Carlos Esquivel hit the crossbar on 63 minutes as Costa Rica survived.
Carlos Vela could, and perhaps should, have broken the deadlock shortly afterwards but, after being played through by Peralta, fired well over with just Alvarado to beat as extra time loomed.
Mexico looked fresh out of ideas following their near misses in regulation, and Costa Rica had the best goalscoring chance in extra time but Campbell, after embarking on a mazy run, failed to beat Ochoa.
It proved a costly miss, as Miller fouled Peralta in the dying moments, before Guardado made him and Campbell pay as he thumped home the winner to set up a last-four clash with Panama.
