Mexico U-23 starts Central American Games with narrow win over 10-man Venezuela

Mexico's U-23 national soccer team began their Central American and Caribbean Games campaign with a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Venezuela, thanks to a late header from Joaquín Moxica.

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The Vinotinto played practically the entire match with one man less after being reduced to 10 footballers from the fifth minute.

The match took a significant turn early on when Venezuela's Marcos Maitán was sent off in the fifth minute for holding Mateo Levy, leaving them with 10 players for the majority of the game. Despite the numerical disadvantage, Venezuela proved to be a resilient opponent.

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Although they dominated a large part of the encounter, a lack of precision and the interventions of the Venezuelan goalkeeper prevented the Tri from taking the lead for a good part of the commitment.

Mexico dominated possession and created numerous scoring opportunities throughout the match, but struggled with precision in their finishing. Venezuelan goalkeeper Diego Ochoa made several crucial saves, denying Mexico's attempts and keeping his team in the game. Even with a man down, Venezuela managed to threaten Mexico's goal, with González forcing a save from Mexican keeper Emmanuel Ochoa in the first half.

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Marcos Maitán held Mateo Levy by the neck to prevent his run towards the goal, so the referee signaled the foul and sent off the central defender without hesitation.

As the game wore on, Mexico intensified their attack, with Uribe and Tahiel Jiménez coming close to scoring. However, it wasn't until the 87th minute that Joaquín Moxica finally broke the deadlock, heading home a corner kick to secure the win for Mexico. The victory, though narrow, marks a successful debut for the Mexican team in the tournament. Mexico's next match is against the Dominican Republic on August 1st.

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The Venezuelan offense did not suffer too much from the expulsion and generated dangerous chances against the Mexican defense, although they could not convert them.