The Mexican U-20 soccer national team failed and was left out of the U-20 World Cup and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, after losing 2-1 in penalty shoot-outs against Guatemala in the CONCACAF pre-World Cup.
After a 1-1 draw and extra time, the game was decided in penalty kicks, where the Tricolor missed four to fail in the pre-World Cup.
The Tricolor, considered the giant of the zone, only had to win in the quarterfinals to secure their ticket to the World Cup in Indonesia 2023, but the heart and dedication they lacked was more than enough for the Chapin team.
Arquímedes Ordoñez made life difficult for the Mexican team with his goal in the 39th minute, something that goalkeeper José Ángel Eulogio could not prevent. El Tri wanted to win with just their jersey, but Guatemala was surprising them.
Mexico managed to equalize, but missed a penalty kick
Luis Pérez's pupils were forced to react, and although the minutes passed, it looked more and more complicated. It was not until the 74th minute when Esteban Lozano appeared to equalize, giving life and hope to the Tricolor.
Luck seemed to smile on the Mexican team, which had a great opportunity in the 88th minute when Esteban Lozano scored a penalty kick for Mexico, but the player missed, wasted the clearest opportunity to sign the ticket to the 2023 World Cup and paid dearly for it.
After 30 extra minutes in the match, the goal did not come either and they had to settle the match from the penalty spot, where the least worst was Guatemala, who, with two goals, by Mathius Anderson and Daniel Alexander Cardoza, won the match, even without the need to take the fifth penalty.
Mexico out of Olympic Games in men's soccer for the first time since Beijing 2008
For Mexico, the first three missed: Jesús Hernández, Isaías Violante and Tony Leone, and although Alberto Alcántar scored, Bryan González's miss was definitive for the failure of the Mexican National Team, which will be left without the 2023 World Cup and without the 2024 Olympic Games.