LONDON — It wasn’t easy, but they got the job done.
Giovani dos Santos and Hector Herrera scored in extra time to lead Mexico to the semifinals of the 2012 Olympic Games with a thrilling 4-2 win over Senegal in front of 81,855 at Wembley Stadium on Saturday.
Jorge Enriquez scored on a header in the first half and Javier Aquino gave Mexico a two-goal before Senegal tied it late with headers from Moussa Konote and Ibrahima.
Mexico, which won Group A, remains unbeaten in four Olympic matches and will face Japan in the semifinals after the Asian squad defeated Egypt earlier in the day. The semi matchup will be played at Wembley.
The CONCACAF champs have never finished better than fourth in the Olympics, but they now find themselves one win away from playing for a gold medal in London. However, getting past the quarterfinals proved to be a challenge Mexico wasn’t expecting after leading 2-0 with under a half-hour to play.
Mexico had the momentum early on before Senegal turned the page in a spirited second-half run.
In just the second minute, forward Marco Fabian hit the cross bar after some confusion by Senegal’s defenders. With the ball just sitting in the box, Fabian barely missed the golden opportunity to open the game but Enriquez would make up for the miss moments later.
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