Match ends, Mexico 1, Scotland 0.
Mexico 1-0 Scotland: Giovani dos Santos' early goal wins it for El Tricolor
By Alasdair Lamont
BBC Scotland in Mexico City
- From the section Football
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Giovani dos Santos' early goal was enough to ensure a victory for World Cup-bound Mexico as Scotland ended their Americas tour with two defeats.
Dos Santos' side-footed finish off the inside of a post came after only 13 minutes in the Estadio Azteca.
Miguel Layun and Hirving Lozano both hit the woodwork for Mexico.
Scotland's Oli McBurnie did the same, but it was the hosts who dominated and Oribe Peralta also had the ball in the net but was flagged offside.
Mexico improved on their midweek 0-0 draw with Wales to complete back-to-back games without conceding a goal for the first time under coach Juan Carlos Osorio.
But they will wonder how they failed to secure a more convincing win over visitors who rode their luck at times but showed more adventure than in their 2-0 defeat by Peru.
This was another tough evening for the inexperienced Scots, who made seven changes from Lima, but their spirit and commitment never dwindled.
Throughout this tour, they have spoken of a belief they could shock either Peru or Mexico, but in practice they fell some way short.
It was always asking a lot of this young squad to match their far more experienced hosts and falling behind to such an early goal unsettled them after a decent start.
Cheap goals did the damage against Peru and so it was again here, with Carlos Vela and Dos Santos given far too much time and space to combine, allowing the latter to pick his spot low down to debutant goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin's left.
If the heat and the altitude had not done it already, that took the wind out of Scotland's sails.
They struggled to put meaningful passes together and all too often possession was given up to a grateful home team who needed little encouragement.
When Dylan McGeouch lost the ball on the edge of his own box, Layun fired a terrific effort goalwards, only to see it ricochet off the post to safety.
If McLaughlin was relieved by that, he did well to keep the deficit down by pushing another long-range shot, this time from Lozano, round the post.
McLaughlin was replaced by another debutant at half-time and Scott Bain was quickly into the action to repel the Mexicans again.
Lozano and Hector Herrera both found the Celtic goalkeeper in the way with good saves within a couple of minutes of the restart.
Despite the conditions, the match became very open, with play racing from one end to the other and Scotland came agonisingly close to an equaliser.
Johnny Russell's inviting curled ball from the right was met superbly by McBurnie, but the same post that denied Layun also frustrated the Scotland striker.
The Mexicans continued to look dangerous on the break and Layun should have scored as Mexico powered forward, but Stephen O'Donnell was well placed to keep out his goalbound shot.
Further carelessness by McGeouch provided the next scare for the Scots. Lozano fashioned the shooting opportunity but watched disbelievingly as the ball crashed off the bar.
When a Lozano header was parried by Bain, Peralta's celebration after pouncing on the rebound was cut short by an offside flag, while Jesus Manuel Corona's chip over the goalkeeper was cleared on the line by Charlie Mulgrew.
Although the scoreline could have been more emphatic, Scotland emerge from the game and the tour far from embarrassed.
Manager Alex McLeish can now ponder what he and his staff have learned from the tour before their final pre-Nations League friendly against Belgium at Hampden on 7 September.
For Mexico, who had made eight changes of their own from their draw with Wales, they head to their final World Cup warm-up away to Denmark on the back of a winning send-off from 71,000 fans in the Azteca.
Line-ups
Mexico
- 13Ochoa
- 24Álvarez
- 27Ayala
- 3SalcedoSubstituted forMárquezat 45'minutes
- 23Gallardo
- 7Layún
- 16HerreraSubstituted forFabiánat 58'minutes
- 11VelaSubstituted forAquinoat 63'minutes
- 10G dos SantosSubstituted forJ dos Santosat 57'minutes
- 22LozanoSubstituted forJM Coronaat 73'minutes
- 9JiménezSubstituted forPeraltaat 57'minutes
Substitutes
- 1J Corona
- 4Márquez
- 6J dos Santos
- 8Fabián
- 12Talavera
- 14Hernández
- 17JM Corona
- 19Peralta
- 20Aquino
- 25Gutiérrez
Scotland
- 1McLaughlinSubstituted forBainat 45'minutes
- 2O'Donnell
- 5Hendry
- 4McKenna
- 3Shinnie
- 6McGeouch
- 8McLeanSubstituted forCaddenat 55'minutes
- 7Russell
- 10PatersonSubstituted forMulgrewat 55'minutes
- 11ChristieSubstituted forMcGinnat 55'minutes
- 9McBurnieSubstituted forMorganat 80'minutes
Substitutes
- 12Bain
- 15Mulgrew
- 16Morgan
- 17Cadden
- 18McGinn
- 19Murphy
- 21Archer
- Referee:
- Henry Bejarano
- Attendance:
- 70,993
Match Stats
Home TeamMexicoAway TeamScotland
- Possession
- Home64%
- Away36%
- Shots
- Home32
- Away4
- Shots on Target
- Home10
- Away2
- Corners
- Home5
- Away3
- Fouls
- Home8
- Away9
Live Text
Full Time
Second Half ends, Mexico 1, Scotland 0.
Foul by Jonathan dos Santos (Mexico).
Lewis Morgan (Scotland) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt missed. Jonathan dos Santos (Mexico) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right.
Attempt saved. Jesús Manuel Corona (Mexico) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal.
Attempt missed. Jesús Manuel Corona (Mexico) right footed shot from the right side of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Jonathan dos Santos.
Attempt missed. Marco Fabián (Mexico) left footed shot from outside the box is too high. Assisted by Jesús Gallardo.
Attempt missed. Jesús Gallardo (Mexico) left footed shot from the left side of the box is close, but misses the top left corner. Assisted by Jesús Manuel Corona with a cross.
Attempt blocked. Jesús Manuel Corona (Mexico) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Jonathan dos Santos.
Attempt saved. Chris Cadden (Scotland) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Attempt missed. Miguel Layún (Mexico) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the left. Assisted by Oribe Peralta.
Substitution
Substitution, Scotland. Lewis Morgan replaces Oliver McBurnie.
Jonathan dos Santos (Mexico) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Scott McKenna (Scotland).
Corner, Scotland. Conceded by Hugo Ayala.
Attempt saved. Marco Fabián (Mexico) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Jonathan dos Santos.
Foul by Marco Fabián (Mexico).
Jack Hendry (Scotland) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution
Substitution, Mexico. Jesús Manuel Corona replaces Hirving Lozano.
Offside, Mexico. Hirving Lozano tries a through ball, but Oribe Peralta is caught offside.
Attempt saved. Hirving Lozano (Mexico) header from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Miguel Layún with a cross.
Corner, Mexico. Conceded by Charlie Mulgrew.
Attempt blocked. Jonathan dos Santos (Mexico) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Attempt missed. Hirving Lozano (Mexico) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the left. Assisted by Miguel Layún.
Foul by Oribe Peralta (Mexico).
Scott McKenna (Scotland) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Marco Fabián (Mexico) left footed shot from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Oribe Peralta.
Hirving Lozano (Mexico) hits the bar with a right footed shot from the right side of the box. Assisted by Jonathan dos Santos.
Corner, Scotland. Conceded by Hugo Ayala.
Substitution
Substitution, Mexico. Javier Aquino replaces Carlos Vela.
Foul by Hirving Lozano (Mexico).
Jack Hendry (Scotland) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Hirving Lozano (Mexico) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Jack Hendry (Scotland).
Substitution
Substitution, Mexico. Marco Fabián replaces Héctor Herrera.
Substitution
Substitution, Mexico. Oribe Peralta replaces Raúl Jiménez.
Substitution
Substitution, Mexico. Jonathan dos Santos replaces Giovani dos Santos.
Miguel Layún (Mexico) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Oliver McBurnie (Scotland).
