Mexico Victorious in Gold Cup Despite 2 Early U.S. Goals

The CONCACAF Gold Cup came to a fantastic conclusion last night with Mexico having to come from an early two goal deficit to grasp victory.
 
In front of over 93,000 supporters at the Rose Bowl, El Tri conquered their northern neighbours to defeat the USA for the third consecutive time in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final.

The Mexican side burst out from the blocks at the start of the match with speed and power up front, troubling the U.S. defence at every opportunity and Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez was soon making his presence felt with a couple of early chances with neither hitting the target.

To everyone's surprise, it was the home side that took the lead after some nice play from surprise starter Freddy Adu, and Landon Donovan forcing a corner that Michael Bradley headed into the goal after only eight minutes.

Although a goal behind, Mexico were dominating the match with Chicharito running the show up top for the visitors. His efforts were not to be rewarded yet, as he hit another effort wide and then on the 15 minute mark saw a rifled shot hit the right hand post.

The "Indivisible" USA side held firm and added to their lead when their two star players, Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan, combined together with the LA Galaxy player receiving a perfect pass from the Fulham player to fire home and give his side an almost surprising two-goal advantage.

It seemed like daylight robbery at this stage of the match with the huge Mexican support within the enormous stadium seemingly bewildered at the fact their side were two goals behind.

However, El Tri were soon to force themselves back into the contest on the 29th minute when Hernandez assisted Barrera with a defence splitting pass to fire home their opening goal, and it was no less than they deserved.

The match was level less than 10 minutes later when Andres Guardado picked up a Dos Santos shot to tap in to score his third of the tournament. This goal ensured both teams entered into the halftime break all square.

Mexico started the second half with as much vigour as they had played the first, and it didn't take long for them to add the fifth goal of the evening.

The U.S. defence was again left in tatters by the masterful passing style of Mexico when Guardado received a delightfully weighted pass from Pablo Barrera to bullet home a low shot past Tim Howard and into the bottom corner of the net.

As the match wore on, tempers began to fray with the two old enemies starting to wear on each other. Bocanegra and Dos Santos were soon squaring up, but it was all in vain for both players as neither gained any advantage in the match for their flare up.

Amidst the broken play, a moment of brilliance was to decide the overall result when Dos Santos skipped past a scrambling Howard in the penalty area before deftly chipping a beautiful guided effort into the top left corner of the net despite U.S. defender Eric Lichaj's leap to stop it going in.

With this fourth goal, the trophy was won for the Mexican side leaving the players to celebrate lifting the Gold Cup trophy in front of their huge Californian Mexican support. The loss for Bob Bradley's U.S. side left his players and fans ruing a missed opportunity to get one over on their bitter rivals.

Mexico Secure Gold Cup After Coming From Behind (highlights)

Marc Roseblade is a Contributor for Bleacher Report as well as Not Just Scottish Football and youth development reporter for Ayr United Football Academy. All quotes are obtained first-hand unless otherwise stated.