Edson Álvarez heads Mexico to Gold Cup win over USMNT

Edson Álvarez scored a tiebreaking goal in the 77th minute after a video review reversed an offside call, and defending champions Mexico beat the United States 2-1 on Sunday night for its record 10th Concacaf Gold Cup title.

Chris Richards put the U.S. ahead in the fourth minute, heading in a Sebastian Berhalter free kick for the second time in the tournament, but Raúl Jiménez tied the score in the 27th with his third goal of this Gold Cup.

Mexico was awarded the free kick when Diego Luna fouled Alexis Vega on a flank. Johan Vásquez flicked the restart across the goal mouth and Álvarez burst past the defense, redirecting the ball from 3 yards just inside Matt Freese's far post.

While the play was initially called offside, the goal was awarded by the VAR, and Mexico defended its title from 2023 while improving to 6-2 in Gold Cup finals against the U.S.

Patrick Agyemang had a chance two minutes into stoppage time, but he didn't make good contact on his short-range shot that was blocked by goalkeeper Angel Malagón.

Álvarez scored Mexico's tournament-high fifth set piece goal. The first four were off corner kicks. The winner was a free kick that Johan Vasquez flicked to Álvarez for a diving header that was first ruled offside but the decision was overturned after video review.

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Mexico is 6-2 in Gold Cup finals vs. the U.S.

Richards stunned the Mexicans with an athletic header, ending their streak of not allowing a goal at 387 minutes. It was the earliest goal in Gold Cup final history.

Sebastian Berhalter, whose father, Gregg, was coaching the USMNT in Copa America at this time in 2024 but was fired soon after the tournament, sent a free kick to the middle of the box where Richards had to step back to gain control of the ball before directing it to the underside of the bar where it fell across the line.

Jiménez roofed a through ball corner by Marcel Ruíz to make it 1-1. Afterward, Jiménez held up a Diogo Jota jersey to honor his former Wolverhampton teammate, who along with his brother Andre Silva died in a car accident on Thursday.

Mexico led in attempts (16-6), shots on goal (8-3) and corner kicks (12-0).

The U.S. fielded essentially a B team for the Gold Cup so it was no surprise they were a decided underdog against a veteran Mexican side.

Playing in Houston didn't help. No national team in the world has less of a home-field advantage than when the Americans "host" the Mexicans and the crowd of 71,000 was at least 75 percent pro-Mexico.

Information from The Associated Press and Reuters was used in this recap.