In a historic Olympic men's football tournament - for the first time, no team from Europe advanced to the semifinals - Japan was on its way to some history of its own at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday, hoping to join the reigning Women's World Cup champion Japanese women's team as the first nation to send both of its football teams to the Olympic final in the same year.
Mexico, however, had other ideas, stunning the stingy Japanese defense for three goals en route to a 3-1 win at Wembley, advancing to the gold medal match.
Japan opened the scoring in the 12th minute with the third goal of the tournament for Yuki Otsu. Otsu roofed the ball into the top right corner of the net, leaving Mexican goaltender Jose Corona helpless to stop it.
The Mexicans answered 20 minutes later with a goal by Marco Fabian. Giovani dos Santos delivered excellent service on a corner kick, and a header by Jorge Enriquez put the ball in great position for his Chivas de Guadalajara teammate Fabian, who headed the ball past a helpless Shuichi Gonda for the goal, the first tally scored against the Japanese in these Olympic Games.
It wouldn't be the last. Some 20 minutes into the second half, Oribe Peralta found the back of the net for Mexico. Peralta's initial shot was saved by Gonda, but Peralta was able to win the ball from Japanese midfielder Takahiro Ohgihara, and made good on the turnover to put Mexico in the lead, curling the ball into the top left corner of the net. The goal put Japan behind for the first time in the Olympics.
Mexico wasn't done, either, as Javier Cortes - who came on in the last minute of regulation for Javier Aquino - scored in the last minute of stoppage time to seal the deal for El Tri. The celebration was on, and now, Mexico will look to claim gold on Saturday, when the team returns to Wembley to face either Brazil or South Korea.
