Mexico earns tie, places second in qualifying pool

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Final CONCACAF Standings Team GP W D L GF GA Pts United States 10 6 2 2 19 13 20 Mexico 10 6 1 3 18 12 19 Honduras 10 5 1 4 17 11 16 Costa Rica 10 5 1 4 15 15 16 El Salvador 10 2 2 6 9 15 8 Trinidad and Tobago 10 1 3 6 10 22 6

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) -- Mexico completed its World Cup qualifying campaign with an entertaining, but meaningless, 2-2 draw against Trinidad & Tobago on Wednesday.

With Mexico already qualified and Trinidad out of contention, the match could easily have been a low-key affair, but instead it was played at an enthusiastic tempo in front of a tiny Hasely Crawford Stadium crowd.

Kerry Baptiste opened the scoring for Trinidad in the 32nd minute with a penalty after Costa Rican referee Walter Enrique Quesada spotted an infringement from a corner and pointed to the spot. Baptiste fired his shot low to the right of an outstretched Guillermo Ocha and into the corner of the net.

Mexico substitute Enrique Esqueda made an instant impact when he latched onto a through ball from fellow substitute Cuauhtemoc Blanco and lashed a powerful shot into the roof of the net past Marvin Phillip to equalize in the 57th minute.

Trinidad took the lead again just four minutes later when Baptiste nodded in a close range header for his second goal.

Mexico drew level again in the 64th minute when a short corner resulted in a low cross finding Carlos Salcido gathered in front of the goal and a simple goal.

Trinidad's Hayden Tinto showed some good early skills and set up the first chance in the 11th minute when his floating cross from the right found Baptiste at the far post but his header was excellently saved by Ocha diving acrobatically to his right.

Baptiste missed three scoring opportunities in a seven-minute span, culminating in a wide shot at goal with just Ocha to beat in the 18th.

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