Herrera: Mexico have come for the Gold Cup - not easy wins

The coach refused to read too much into a 6-0 rout of Cuba but he did not hide the fact that nothing less than outright victory will be sufficient for El Tri

Miguel Herrera dismissed the significance of Mexico's "easy" win over a "weak" Cuba side on Thursday, warning his troops that the opposition will get tougher on a march that he hopes ends in Gold Cup glory.

El Tri ended a dismal run of seven games without a victory by triumphing 6-0 at Chicago's Soldier Field, with Oribe Peralta netting a hat-trick against a team that was shorn of the services of seven players and coach Raul Gonzalez because of visa issues.


Herrera was thus reluctant to read too much into the rout but nonetheless admitted that Mexico only have one goal: to win their Concacaf title back off tournament hosts USA.

"We did not come here for one win," he told reporters. "We came for the tournament, the cup and we will add up win after win.

"This tournament's very even, though. I mean we had a weak opponent today but... the USA won well, Jamaica had a good game, Trinidad and Tobago had a good game. All these are good teams."

Mexico have Trinidad and Tobago - who defeated Guatemala in their Gold Cup opener - for company in Group C, but Herrera admitted that he fully expects his team to cruise through to the next round.

"Sure, the group play looks easy for us, and we had an easy game today," he added. "But the second game, and third game and second round could all increase in level of quality, and the teams in the second round will be good teams that will deserve to be there.

"We expect it to be harder as we go along; that's just how tournaments work."