FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida – It was a night of redemption for Guatemala FW Darwin Lom, who bounced back from missing a penalty kick to score the winning goal in a 1-0 Guatemala victory over Cuba in Group D of the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup on Tuesday night at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
It is Guatemala’s first Gold Cup group stage victory since the 2011 tournament when they defeated Grenada 4-0. With the win, Guatemala sit atop the group with three points.
An early injury to star FW Rubio Rubin forced Guatemala Head Coach Luis Fernando Tena into a substitution just 10 minutes in, with Lom on to replace Rubin.
Despite the early loss of Rubin, Guatemala started to impose their will and a Nathaniel Mendez attempted chip in the 18’ forced Cuba GK Raiko Arozarena into a jump save. That was followed a minute later by Alejandro Galindo’s overhead kick from outside the area that just went over the crossbar.
The pressure from the Chapines came in spurts, including one frenetic sequence shortly before halftime when Guatemala were just a touch away from landing the first goal.
It looked like Guatemala would get a goal on the cusp of halftime when, after a VAR review, a foul was whistled for a tackle on Carlos Mejia in the Cuba area, but Arozarena came up with a fingertip save on Lom’s penalty, pushing the ball to the post before it deflected out.
Guatemala would not waste their next chance, though, as less than three minutes after the restart they took a 1-0 lead when Mendez slipped in a pass to Lom, who fired a shot past Arozarena.
Cuba looked to strike right back and on 50 minutes Aldair Ruiz was presented with a chance, but his right-footed shot was tipped wide by Guatemala GK Nicholas Hagen. Twelve minutes later a well-worked set piece from a corner kick saw Hagen have to soar to deny Yasnier Matos.
The final quarter-hour saw Cuba trying to poke and prod open the Guatemalan defense, but Tena’s men never wavered and nailed things down to secure the victory.
