Mexico tops Jamaica, 3-1, for third Gold Cup win in four tournaments

PERHAPS THE least recognized part of the CONCACAF moniker is that the third "C" stands for Caribbean.

Despite having 31 associations in CONCACAF, Caribbean teams have played in the shadow of their North and Central American confederation mates - especially Mexico and the United States.

Only four Caribbean nations - Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago - have ever qualified for a World Cup, and none has qualified more than once.

Haiti, in 1973, is the only Caribbean nation to win a CONCACAF championship - nearly two decades before the Gold Cup Tournament format was created.

So Jamaica wasn't just trying to make national history last night when it played Mexico in the Gold Cup Championship match at Lincoln Financial Field.

After upsetting the United States to reach the final, the Reggae Boyz were looking for a little more respect for all of the Caribbean.

In its first championship game, Jamaica earned the respect that David gets for standing up to Goliath. But Mexico lifted the trophy.

Wanting a different kind of respect, the kind that comes from reclaiming the status of the Big Dog in the yard, El Tri won its seventh Gold Cup and third in four tournaments by beating Jamaica, 3-1, in front of 68,930 fans, the largest crowd to attend a soccer game in Philadelphia.

Reclaiming the trophy it had conceded to the United States in 2013, Mexico earns a one-game playoff in October against its archrival for the right to represent CONCACAF at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia - the site of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The venue has not been determined, but it is a good bet that Los Angeles, Houston or Dallas - all cities with large Mexican-American populations - will be CONCACAF's choice.

Struggling with its form since the 2014 World Cup, Mexico had been under a lot of scrutiny. The pressure was on to win this tournament. The job of national team coach Miguel Herrera was rumored to be on the line depending on the Gold Cup result.

The Mexicans had advanced out of the knockout rounds with two matches highlighted by controversial decisions from referees.

Panama, which lost in the semifinals by the virtue of two penalty kicks awarded to Mexico, called on CONCACAF to investigate possible match-fixing and asked that the entire referee committee be removed.

Against Jamaica, Mexico made sure that nothing could claim credit for its victory but its spectacular play.

After Jamaica controlled the run of play for the first half-hour, Mexico opened the scoring off a beautiful volley shot from Andres Guardado, who won the Golden Ball as the top player in the tournament, in the 31st minute.

Mexico's 22-year-old sensation Jesus Corona, who was voted the Best Young Player, scored two minutes into the second half and Oribe Peralta put the match out of reach in the 61st minute. Jamaica got its lone goal from Darren Mattocks in the 80th minute.

Despite the United States finishing fourth, goalkeeper Brad Guzan was awarded the Golden Glove while forward Clint Dempsey won the Golden Boot as the top goal scorer with seven.