Posted on July 9, 2012
GUATEMALA CITY – Miguel Lasso scored his third of the game and tournament-leading ninth goal midway through the first extra-time period to help lift Panama to a 6-4 victory over Mexico in the third-place match at the CONCACAF Futsal Championship on Sunday.
It was the highest finish at the futsal finals for Panama, which took fourth place in 2008. It was the third time in four tries Mexico lost in the third-place match. It also fell in 2000 and 2004 after finishing third in the inaugural 1996 tournament.
Even though both teams already had clinched berths in the FIFA Futsal World Cup in Thailand in November, it was closely played encounter.
The Panamanians twice led by two goals before El Tri rallied both twice, including equalizing with just over a minute remaining in regulation.
Lasso gave Los Canaleros the lead for the last time 2:45 into extra time when Adrian Gonzalez gave the ball away on a back pass. The Panamanian forward drove the ballit from near the second penalty spot.
Claudio Goodridge added an insurance goal with 31 seconds left in the second extra period. He received a ball at midcourt with Mexican goalkeeper Alonso Saavedra near the midfield circle to support El Tri’s late offensive push. With Saavedra out of position, Goodridge rolled a ball from his own half off the right post for his second score of the match.
Panama took the lead with two goals inside the opening 2:09. Lasso settled Oscar Hinks’ cross-court pass on the left side, took a touch to get inside Gonzalez and put a right-footed drive into the far-side netting after 58 seconds.
Goodridge doubled the lead only 67 seconds later. He dribbled in from his own half and took a speculative shot that was blocked by defender Angel Rodriguez. But the ball caromed back to Goodridge, who hit a right-footed shot from just beyond the second penalty spot that bounced in off the underside of the crossbar.
The Mexicans, who were on the defensive for much of the rest of the half, pulled within a goal with 1:07 remaining when Carlos Ramirez settled Miguel Limon’s cross-court pass on the left side of the penalty area, chipped the ball over goalkeeper Jaime Lodono and finished with a nod of the head.
El Tri was more aggressive to beginning of the second half and equalized 5:15 in when Rodriguez finished a run down the right side with a drive from the edge of the area that got between Panama substitute goalkeeper Jose Victoria and the near post.
Los Canaleros reclaimed the lead in the 29th minute, capitalizing on a man advantage after Limon was red-carded less than 60 seconds earlier for a two-leg slide tackle that brought down Panama’s Edgar Rivas.
After a period of sustained possession, Carlos Perez’s drive from outside the area deflected off Gonzalez’s left leg and beat Saavedra high to his left.
Panama doubled its lead a minute later when a diagonally running Lasso settled a ball from Rivas, took a quick shot that Saavedra was able to block, but knocked the rebound into an open net with the Mexican keeper sprawled on the floor.
After Lodono denied Ramirez on a penalty with 4:56 remaining, Mexico pulled within 4-3 with just over three minutes left with Morgan Plata’s second goal of the competition and tied it when Ramirez volleyed Plata’s corner kick with barely over a minute remaining.
Categories: Central America, CONCACAF, Mexico, North America, Panama
Tags: 2012 CONCACAF Futsal Championship, Angel Rodriguez, Carlos Perez, Carlos Ramirez, Claudio Goodridge, El Tri, FIFA Futsal World Cup, Jose Victoria, Los Canaleros, Miguel Lasso, Miugel Limon, Oscar Hinks
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