Concacaf Gold Cup from Glendale: Mexico streaks past Haiti at State Farm Stadium

It took Mexico less than a minute to score its opening goal Sunday in Houston, in a rout of Honduras in both teams' Concacaf Gold Cup opener.

On Thursday at State Farm Stadium, it took a full half plus 45 seconds into the second half, but once "LamborJimmy" got rolling once again, it was too hard for another opponent to stop it.

Henry Martín headed in Mexico's first goal against Haiti, and Mexico finished numerous scoring chances with more regularity in the second half in its 3-1 Gold Cup win. Santiago Gimenez also scored, and Mexico's attack forced a major mistake when Haiti provided an own goal.

Mexico was the better team all night long, attacking the Haiti end with a faster tempo that has the players playing with more confidence under new head coach Jaime Lozano. "LamborJimmy" is a reference to Lozano's strategy of more movement up the field for his players, a riskier proposition but one that has produced goals and lifted the spirits of the team and its legions of fans in both Mexico and the U.S.

Uriel Antuña provided two assists, and fans got to see Mexico's first win in Glendale since July of 2021, which was a 3-0 victory over Honduras in the Gold Cup. Since then, Mexico lost 3-0 to Uruguay last year and drew 1-1 with the U.S. in April of this year.

Mexico earned its sixth win at State Farm Stadium all time, in 12 matches. It has lost only twice with four draws.

"In getting to know the players, I've tried to make things easier," Lozano said in Spanish. "This result doesn't guarantee anything but the players look content and confident. We had options, we had the ball a lot and we were moving it and doing a lot of damage."

Mexico has all but assured itself passage to the knockout round of this year's Gold Cup, with two wins in two matches. Haiti is on three points with a win and loss, and Honduras and Qatar are still alive with a point each from a draw in Group B.

In the earlier game of Thursday's doubleheader in Glendale, Alberth Elis scored in the dying seconds of the match for Honduras to force a draw with Qatar. Afterward, both teams scuffled on the field, Qatar clearly miffed at a missed opportunity for a win.

But most of the 34,527 were there to see Mexico and Lozano's new style that has his time as head coach off to a strong start. That crowd wasn't the 50,000- and 60,000-plus that has been typical of Mexico games in Glendale, but perhaps some fans still feel that Mexico still has a ways to go after losing 3-0 to the U.S. in the Concacaf Nations League semifinals two weeks ago.

The loss and some other factors within the team led to the dismissal of former coach Diego Cocca. Mexico was already coming off its worst World Cup performance in decades.

More entertaining soccer, and certainly wins, could result in Mexico's soccer federation keeping Lozano in place on a more permanent basis.

"We're playing happier and calmer. We're finding the best in each of the players," Mexico's Jorge Sanchez said. "This is a tough competition but the roster is in good form and we're finding the best characteristics of each other."

Lozano seemed indifferent about the nickname in the post-match press conference, but he's happy with the results.

"Well, I don't know who started it," Lozano said. "But any coaching staff is what it is because of its players. Every day that passes we grow more together and we're feeling more comfortable. We took an important step forward, but we have more to do."

Haiti proved to be a big and athletic team, and when Danley Jean Jacques got on the end of a corner kick not marked well by Mexico and sent the ball past Guillermo Ochoa in the 77th minute, the score was 2-1 with Haiti pressing for the draw.

But Mexico was having none of the comeback. Antuña came up with his second assist of the night, serving a perfect cross off the counterattack to Gimenez for the decisive goal in the 83rd minute.

Gimenez got a huge ovation when he entered the game as a second-half substitute, as he is regarded as one of Mexico's most popular players by the fans.

"I think we're buying into how Jimmy wants us to play," Ochoa said.

Honduras had several chances in the second half to draw even with Qatar and was the better quality side on the field throughout the game, but a seventh-minute goal looked like it would hold up until Elis overpowered his defender and put away a deflection as time was running out.

Qatar was playing in Glendale for the second time. In July 2021, the eventual World Cup hosts defeated El Salvador 3-2 in the quarterfinals of the Gold Cup

Qatar lost 1-0 to the U.S. in the semifinals.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Concacaf Gold Cup from Glendale: Mexico streaks past Haiti at State Farm Stadium