No, Donald Trump did not show up. He would have been disappointed, there were no criminals, drug dealers, or rapists to be found and a pandemic did not break out in Chicago. El Tri did show up and there was no let up on Cuba as Oribe Peralta scored a hat trick and could have easily scored another three. Gio Di Santos got into the act with Andres Guardado and Arsenal/ Celta Vigo/ Real Sociedad striker Carlos Vela adding to the lambasting.

With just three wins in 11 matches in 2015 and insipid draws against Costa Rica and Honduras in pre-Gold Cup friendlies, coach Miguel Herrera was under pressure to record an opening victory. He went in for a 4-4-2 with Jonathan Dos Santos in attacking midfield and Hector Herrera pushed out to the right flank. It took some time but Peralta finally broke the logjam in the 17th minute with a nice touch after Guardado did the spadework. Herrera celebrated in his customary over the top exuberant style.

At the other hand Memo Ochoa could have caught his 19 winks with Cuba having trouble getting out their own half. Cuba had three attempts at goal compared to Mexico’s 44 and about a quarter of the possession, just some of the lopsided stats.

A difficult mission became night impossible as the Caribbean nation also had coach Raúl González Triana and six other players disallowed because of visa issues. Another player Keiler García went missing, short hand for defection. All this despite the warming USA – Cuba relations with embassies to open in each others capitals later this month.

Mexico now sits on top of Group C with Trinidad and Tobago in second after they won their match against Guatemala. Group C is about the weakest group and El Tri should face no issues getting to the quarterfinals. That’s when we will see what this Mexico side is all about.