Erick Torres scored a one minute into stoppage time and Mexico beat Panama 1-0 Tuesday night to win its group in Olympic qualifying to get within a win of London.
Mexico locked down the top spot in Group B by outscoring its opponents 11-1 over three matches. El Tri now will take on Group A runner-up Canada on Saturday at Livestrong Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan., with a ticket to London on the line.
''It's a good team, they have good players and they're very physically strong,'' California-born fullback Miguel Angel Ponce said of the Canadians. ''We're going to have to play one-two touches so we can make dangerous chances.''
With qualification assured after consecutive victories against Trinidad and Tobago and Honduras, Mexico had stars Marco Fabian and Alan Pulido, who accounted for six goals in the opening two matches, on the bench at the start.
Although Panama was eliminated from semifinal contention earlier by Honduras' victory over Trinidad and Tobago, it got off to a strong start, forcing Mexican goalkeeper Liboro Sanchez to make several stops, including a pair of key saves in the 15th minute.
With Los Canaleros dominating possession, Mexico had its best opportunity in the 40th minute when a cross in the box left Javier Cortes alone on Panama's goalkeeper, but Cortes fired a shot into Luis Mejia's chest and he scooped up the rebound.
''We couldn't expect a good game because our players hadn't played together,'' Mexico coach Luis Fernando Tena said. ''Panama played very well, they worked hard and came out playing and it was hard for us to get going.''
Mexico's offense continued to struggle in the second half, forcing Tena to bring on Fabian in hopes of creating an attack. The move gave El Tri more punch, but the Mexicans continued to struggle against Panama's tenacious defense.
El Tri finally broke through in the first minute of stoppage time when Cortes fired a cross that Jeronimo Amione played to Torres, who only had the goalkeeper in front of him and scored easily.
Although Mexico rolled through group play, Tena said that his squad is not taking opponents lightly in a bid for El Tri's first Olympic Berth since 2004.
''I'm worried of course about Canada, we're not overconfident in the least and we have to be alert. There's a reason that Canada beat the United States and I think that speaks well,'' Tena said. ''Their players have a good attitude and they showed their level, we're going to see their same thing.''
Honduras advanced to the Olympic qualifying semifinals with a 2-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday night.
Eddie Hernandez opened the scoring near the midway point of the first half while forward Anthony Lozano added a goal in the second to put Honduras one win from London.
Honduras went ahead in the 37th minute when a cross by Wilmer Crisanto deflected off the foot of Lozano and floated up beautifully for Hernandez, who headed it past goalkeeper Andre Marchan for his second goal of the North America, Central America and the Caribbean qualifying tournament.
Trinidad nearly tied it seconds before the end of the first half when Shahdon Winchester unleashed a shot that was saved by Honduran goalkeeper Jose Mendoza.
As the match progressed, Trinidad continued to press on, but were consistently turned back by the stout Honduran defense.
Trinidad threw numbers forward late in search of a tying goal, but DC United midfielder Andy Najar fired a cross that Hernandez headed to Lozano who struck in the 70th minute.
In the 90th minute, Marchan fired an apparent clearance straight to Hernandez, who just missed a chance to score the third goal of the match.
