HANOVER, Germany, 27 June 2005 — Argentina beat Mexico 6-5 on penalties and will play world champions Brazil in the Confederations Cup final after their semifinal ended in a 1-1 draw after extra time yesterday.
A poor match which only flickered briefly into life at the very end of a torpid 90 minutes finally tipped Argentina’s way in the shootout after the first 10 penalties were all converted.
Mexican defender Ricardo Osorio was the first to miss from the spot when Argentina keeper German Lux saved low to his right meaning that if Argentina scored with their next penalty they were through.
Esteban Cambiasso duly obliged with a well-struck shot to maintain his country’s astonishingly successful record in semifinals in major competitions. Argentina have not been beaten in the penultimate stage of a top class tournament since 1987, but that record looked in grave danger when Mexico went ahead 14 minutes into extra time.
Carlos Salcido scored after a solo run from the halfway line down the left during which he evaded two tackles before curling home a well-executed goal.
But six minutes later Luciano Figueroa equalized for Argentina, doing well to control the ball which appeared to be running behind him, and then forcing in a shot from close range which squirmed past the defenders and goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez and just went over the line.
Both teams finished the scrappy game with 10 men after Argentina’s Javier Saviola was sent off in the 90th minute for a high and late challenge on Mexico’s Gonzalo Pineda and Mexico’s Rafael Marquez was sent off three minutes later for a challenge on Pablo Aimar.
They were the first players sent off in the 14 matches played in the tournament so far and Saviola will miss Wednesday’s final in Frankfurt.
Marquez, too, will miss Mexico’s playoff against Germany for third place in Leipzig earlier on Wednesday.
