Mexico holds off D.R. to begin Gold Cup with win

INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- Defending champion Mexico overcame a dilatory commencement to decision the Dominican Republic 3-2 connected Saturday nighttime successful a Concacaf Gold Cup radical signifier match.

West Ham midfielder Edson Álvarez opened the scoring successful the 44th minute, Fulham striker Raúl Jiménez added a extremity successful the 47th and defender César Montes got different 1 successful the 53rd.

Jiménez present has 40 goals with the Mexican nationalist squad and is six distant from Jared Borgetti, successful 2nd spot connected the vocation scoring database for El Tri. Javier "Chicharito" Hernández is Mexico's apical scorer with 52.

"It was a bully triumph to commencement with. I congratulate my team, who maintained their affectional balance. It was a hard-fought, but just victory," said Mexico manager Javier Aguirre. "Our rival did a batch of merit, they demanded us, they did a bully job."

Mexico leads Group A with 3 points portion the Dominican Republic is astatine the bottom. Costa Rica and Suriname, the different countries successful the group, volition look disconnected connected Sunday successful Snapdragon Stadium successful San Diego.

"We were patient, we scored 3 goals and it was an charismatic lucifer for the fans, though determination are things that request to beryllium corrected," Aguirre added.

Peter González successful the 51st infinitesimal and Edison Azcona successful the 67th scored for the Dominicans, who earned their archetypal qualification arsenic 1 of the 4 radical winners successful League B of the Concacaf Nations League.

The lucifer was played astatine SoFi stadium earlier 54,309 fans, astir of them rooting for Mexico.

There was uncertainty connected however galore Mexican fans would be the match. On Friday, Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum urged U.S. officials not to people individuals attending the game.

Dozens of workers person been detained by national migration authorities successful a bid of raids successful LA's manner territory and astatine Home Depot parking tons successful Southern California. More than 100 radical person been detained.

Mexico volition effort to suffice for the adjacent circular Wednesday erstwhile they play Suriname portion the Dominican Republic volition play Costa Rica. Both matches volition beryllium played astatine AT&T stadium successful Arlington, Texas.