GLENDALE, Ariz. – Rafa Marquez didn’t display outwardly the look of someone who deserved to gloat a little.
Marquez, though, got the last laugh over those who said the 37-year-old captain of El Tri didn’t deserve a spot on Mexico’s Copa America roster. His goal in the 85th minute gave Mexico a 2-1 lead over Uruguay on Sunday in a match Mexico went on to win 3-1 to take control of Group C.
Marquez will likely always be remembered for his light contact (if any) with Arjen Robben’s foot in the 2014 World Cup Round of 16 match between Mexico and The Netherlands, the play that Mexico fans still call “No Era Penal” and resulted in the Dutch coming back to win and send El Tri home from Brazil.
But Sunday’s goal, his first in six Copa America tournaments, will keep him fondly in the hearts of Mexico’s fans for many years to come.
“A short corner kick. I just tried to follow the ball. I got the pass and I controlled it well, and put a good shot on it,” he said.
Mexico looked doomed to get, at very best, a 1-1 draw before Marquez’s goal. They’d lost a 1-0 lead and the point man in their attack, Andres Guardado, to a red card. Despite opening the second half with a man advantage, it was Uruguay who looked stronger with the ball in the first 29 minutes.
Guardado’s dismissal seemed to wake up El Tri, and the former New York Red Bulls man, who also scored at University of Phoenix Stadium in a 2-2 draw with the US in 2014, was the hero.
Guardado said having a veteran like Marquez on the backline and on the field uplifts the team.
“He’s a real player, a great person and professional and we follow him,” Guardado said. “It gives confidence to us, to himself, our country and our team. In reality, he is a player we need and he’s here and I hope he keeps going and lasts even longer.”
