| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
Mexico 1, Paraguay 1
Thursday March 27, 2003SAN DIEGO (AP) Jose Cardozo scored in the 74th minute, just a minute after Mexico opened scoring, as Paraguay tied Mexico 1-1 Wednesday night.
Cardozo recorded his 13th goal in 12 games this year on a bouncing shot past Mexico goalkeeper Aldolfo Rios off an assist from Jesus Olalde. It came in answer to a goal by Mexico reserve Christian Patino in the 73rd minute.
Patino, assisted by Salvador Carmona, scored on a deflection only seven minutes after he entered the game before 32,641 at Qualcomm Stadium.
Paraguay goalkeeper Justo Villar made nine saves. Rios had only one save, none in the first half, for Mexico, which finished 14-5 shots on goal.
In the first half, Mexico couldn't capitalize despite a 9-3 edge in shots.
Jared Borguetti had a scoring chance when he launched a direct shot off a diving header from 15 yards, but Villar punched it away in the 31st minute.
Earlier, Ramon Morales missed just wide on a header in the sixth minute, and Villar blocked another header by Rafael Marquez in the 11th minute.
This was the first meeting between the teams since they played to a scoreless tie in Copa America 2001. The matchup put Cardozo up against new Mexico coach Ricardo Lavolpe, his former Toluca coach in the Mexican League. Mexico entered the game coming off its first victory under Lavolpe, a 2-0 decision over Bolivia a week earlier in Dallas.
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