FC Dallas goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez was the hero on Saturday night, coming up with two saves in a penalty kick shootout as Mexico were crowned CONCACAF Under-20 champions for the 13th time in history, downing Panama 4-2 on PKs after a 1-1 draw through extratime.
While Mexico converted on all four of their penalty kick attempts, Gonzalez stopped Panama's third and fourth tries, with the latter on Panama's Carlos Small clinching the championship game victory for El Tri. Both nations had already previously qualified for the 2015 FIFA Under-20 World Cup by virtue of finishing top in their respective groups.
After Panama nearly opened the scoring in the 4th minute, the game turned into the Guillermo Martinez show. The Pachuca forward struck the post in the 9th minute and then somehow missed the target on a point-blank shot in the 39th minute with the goal at his mercy.
But Martinez finally broke through for Mexico in the 50th minute, nodding home a teammate's misdirected header from inside the six-yard box as Panama, who won every one of their five previous qualifying matches, conceded their first goal of the tournament.
The canaleros responded, but between the heroics by Mexico 'keeper Gonzalez (55th minute save) and the woodwork (Panama struck the crossbar in the 57th minute and the right post in the 70th minute, both on long-distance blasts), they failed to equalize until earning a penalty kick converted by Fidel Escobar in the 73rd.
Gonzalez's counterpart in the Panamanian goal, Jaime de Gracia, was equally spectacular with stunning reaction stops in minutes 58, 79, 90 and then in the 106th minute during extratime. But De Gracia couldn't match the FC Dallas Homegrown Player when it was all on the line in the shootout.
