Mexico vs Colombia finished 1-1 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Saturday night, and the man who saved Rafael Márquez’s first game in charge of El Tri was a 17-year-old. Gilberto Mora cancelled out Luis Suárez’s early header just after the hour, and Mexico spent much of the evening knocking on the door without finding a winner.
It was Mexico’s first match since the World Cup and the first with Márquez in the dugout after he took over from Javier Aguirre. Colombia, under Néstor Lorenzo, arrived without James Rodríguez or Juan Fernando Quintero and used the friendly to hand a debut to striker Kevin Viveros.
How the Mexico vs Colombia goals went in
Colombia struck in the 9th minute. Richard Ríos swung in a cross and Suárez rose to head it past Raúl Rangel, a cold start for a home-leaning crowd that had come to see the new era begin.
Mexico’s leveller arrived in the 62nd minute. Jesús Gallardo picked out Mora with a long ball, and the teenager left his marker behind before finishing inside the box. For a 17-year-old, it was a remarkably composed moment on a big stage.
Woodwork, saves and a lot of Mexico pressure
The biggest near miss came on 32 minutes. Roberto Alvarado’s angled effort cannoned off the right post and Luis Chávez hit the crossbar with the rebound, all in the same passage of play. In the second half Colombia goalkeeper Álvaro Montero also denied Hirving Lozano in a one on one, although the flag went up for offside.
The numbers backed up Mexico’s claim to have done more. ESPN’s match stats had El Tri on 16 shots to Colombia’s five, with four on target to two, and 52% of the ball. Montero finished with three saves, while Rangel’s best stop came from a Jhon Arias free kick.
What the draw means for Márquez
A draw against a side of Colombia’s quality is hardly a crisis, but it underlines the job Márquez has taken on. Mexico created plenty and still needed a teenager to bail them out. The positive is obvious: Mora looked every bit a senior international, and the new coach will build around that kind of fearlessness.
Colombia will take encouragement from a solid display with several regulars missing, even if they were pinned back for long spells after the break. It was a busy night for the national teams on US soil, coming a day after the USMNT beat Peru 4-1 in Orlando.
