Mexico beats Haiti, clinches Gold Cup QF berth

Henry Martín scored on a diving header 44 seconds into the second half, and Mexico beat Haiti 3-1 Thursday night to clinch a berth in the CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinals.

Martín headed Uriel Antuna‘s cross past goalkeeper Alexandre Pierre for his 11th international goal. Haiti’s Ricardo Adé gave Mexico a 2-0 lead with an own goal in the 56th when he poked in Jesús Gallardo‘s cross for Orbelín Pineda.

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Haiti scored its third goal in 11 matches against Mexico and first since 1981 when Danley Jean Jacques evaded Johan Vásquez and headed Derrick Etienne‘s cross past Guillermo Ochoa in the 78th.

Santiago Giménez got his third international goal in the 83rd, poking in Antuna’s cross.

“Every coach out there is defined by his players. There is a nice human group and a great atmosphere, and those are big factors. Today, we took a big step,” Mexico interim coach Jaime Lozano said after securing his second victory in two games since he replaced Diego Cocca.

Mexico, which opened with a 4-0 rout of Honduras, closes Group B on Sunday against invited guest Qatar at Santa Clara, California. Haiti, which opened with a 2-1 win over Qatar, plays Honduras at Charlotte, North Carolina.

In the doubleheader opener, Alberth Elis scored 5:45 into six scheduled minutes of second-half stoppage time, giving Honduras a 1-1 draw against Qatar. Tameem Mansour scored in the seventh minute.