Mexico earned the last berth in the CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinals with a 4-0 win against Haiti on Sunday, dominating the Caribbean side before a capacity crowd at the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium.
Miguel Sabah scored twice, Giovani dos Santos sent in another and Pablo Barrera added one for El Tri in what was the first sporting event ever held at the new state-of-the-art home of the National Football League team.
The crowd of 82,252 -- the third largest for a Gold Cup game in the United States -- saw Mexico control possession and earn a match against Costa Rica in Thursday's semifinals at Soldier Field in Chicago.
Costa Rica beat Guadeloupe 5-1 in the early match.
The doubleheader was not only the first sporting event at the $1.15 billion stadium. It was also the largest soccer crowd in Texas history.
Thousands watched on the giant 180-foot (55-meter) by 50-foot (15-meter) high-definition television screen from standing-room only areas scattered throughout the stadium.
The previous state record was a friendly match between Mexican side America and FC Barcelona at Houston's Reliant stadium in August 2006 with a crowd of 70,550.
The only larger U.S. Gold Cup crowds were the 1998 final at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum between Mexico and the United States (91,255), and the 1996 final (88,155) in Los Angeles between Mexico and Brazil.
And the Mexico partisan crowd Sunday probably left pleased with what it saw on the new artificial turf field. Mexico, which was without coach Javier Aguirre for the second straight game, opened the scoring with a goal by Sabah, his third of the tournament. Assistant coach Mario Carrillo filled in for Aguirre while he serves a three-match suspension.
Sabah opened the scoring when he sent in the rebound off a missed Israel Castro penalty kick in the 23nd minute. Castro's shot was blocked by Haiti goalkeeper Jean Zephirin, who sent it back into the middle of the penalty box where Sabah was charging in. Sabah finished the play by poking in the ball with his right foot.
Jamaican referee Courtney Campbell whistled a penalty kick against Haiti when defender Frantz Bertin stopped a Sabah shot with his right hand at the mouth of the goal when Zephirin was already beat. Bertin's handball earned him a yellow card.
Sabah's second goal came in the 63rd minute via a header off a Giovani dos Santos corner kick. Sabah's two scores give him the tournament lead with four, one more than Panama's Blaz Perez. Panama was eliminated by the United States on Saturday.
Sabah could have added another to his total in the 25th minute. He sent a left-footed shot at an empty net, but Haiti's Pierre Bruny kept the ball out. Sabah was trying to finish a play that included a Zepherin save on a point-blank Dos Santos shot.
It wouldn't take too long for dos Santos to send in his first goal of the tournament and his third with Mexico's senior team.
Dos Santos, a member of Mexico's 2005 Under-17 World Cup championship team, sent a left-footed blast from the edge of the arc in the 42nd minute past Zepherin for a 2-0 halftime lead.
Barrera, a substitute in the 59th minute, sent a one-time shot off a dos Santos corner kick in the 82nd minute to cap El Tri's scoring.
Mexico kept attacking Haiti, who pressured and tried to close off spaces when El Tri possessed the ball and looked for a chance at a counter attack.
Haiti did manage to move the ball up field on occasion. Coach Jairo Rios' team had its first shot on goal in the 33rd minute when Mones Chery sent a left-footed shot from about 25 meters and had it slapped over the crossbar by Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa.
Haiti moved its lines up in the second half but couldn't generate clear looks at goal.
