Mexico seeks a Gold Cup championship against Panama in redemption tour after disappointing World Cup

MEXICO CITY: The game is not going to be against the rival Mexico expected, but seven and a half months after the country’s worst performance in a World Cup in 44 years, Mexico will seek to restore a bit of its tarnished image when it plays the surprising Panama in the Gold Cup final.

With Jaime Lozano, their third coach in less than a year, the Mexicans will try to win their ninth Gold Cup title on Sunday.

Panama beat the US to advance to its first final since 2013. The country is looking for its first Gold Cup championship.

“Usually, the dream final is the United States against Mexico, but that is not going to happen and it doesn’t matter to me,” said Lozano, who is an interim coach. “For me the goal is the same, if Panama is in the final it is because they did something better than the United States.”

Mexico and Panama recently played for third place in the CONCACAF Nations League and El Tri won 1-0 in what was the last match with Argentine coach Diego Cocca at the helm.

Cocca replaced his countryman Gerardo Martino, who was in charge at the World Cup in Qatar when Mexico failed to qualify for the knockout stage for the first time since 1978. But in the sixth of the seven games he managed, Cocca lost 3-0 to the Americans in the Nations League semifinals and was fired four days later.

That match was cut short in extra time by the referee because of disruptive homophobic chants from Mexico’s fans in Las Vegas.

Lozano, who led Mexico to the bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, was appointed for the job, but only for the Gold Cup.

Ten of the players who were with Lozano at the Olympics were included in the Gold Cup roster. Seven of them are regular starters.

“They have bought us our idea, not now but from