GETTING THE GOLDEN BOOT Dempsey top scorer of the Gold Cup

But then El Tri started to find the gaps in the defense, and a yellow card for Jamaica helped lead to Mexico’s first goal. They may have fallen short of qualifying for an October 9 rematch with the U.S. for a spot in the 2017 Confederations Cup, but they also exited the competition with their pride more than simply intact.

The only way Mexico had been able to score in the knockout rounds before Sunday was on penalty kicks, all three by Guardado.

Against Costa Rica in the quarterfinals, a scoreless game was moments from going to a shootout when Guardado converted his penalty in the final minute of extra time.

Against Jamaica, Mexico weathered an early attack and took control in the 31st minute where Guardado took a cross and finished with a attractive left-footed volley into the upper right corner.

South Carolina’s A’ja Wilson led the U.S.to its record sixth straight women’s under-19 world basketball title and seventh overall, scoring 30 points in the Americans’ 78-70 victory over host Russian Federation in the championship game.

Lo and behold, after a tournament plagued by controversy, the Gold Cup final between Mexico and Jamaica actually delivered the goods.

The Mexican deluge began in the 25th minute, a series of headers in and around the area setting Corona up to nod an effort low and to the left of Jamaica goalkeeper Ryan Thompson, who got down quickly to push it wide of goal.

Fifteen minutes later, Oribe Peralta made it 3-0 when Jamaica’s Michael Hector failed a clearing attempt and the ball showered to Peralta’s feet.

After the match, Corona rightly received the tournament’s “Bright Future Award”, as the youngster certainly made a name for himself in the 2015 tournament.

Shortly after, Guardado came off to a thunderous ovation from the pro-Mexico crowd of 68,930 at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles.

After weeks of inconsistent play, El Tri finally put together the complete game manager Miguel Herrera knew they were capable of.

Herrera’s counterpart, Jamaica boss Winfried Schaefer, stuck with the team that put the Reggae Boyz on the brink of history with one exception, as Vancouver Whitecaps forward Darren Mattocks went to the bench to make room for former San Jose Earthquakes man Simon Dawkins.

“I’m very proud to be the coach of this team”, he said, holding up his second place medal.