Mexico earns slim win over Scotland despite dominating play

Hector Vivas/Getty Images

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MEXICO CITY -- Giovani dos Santos struck an early goal as Mexico earned a 1-0 victory over Scotland at a full Estadio Azteca on Saturday in El Tri's home farewell match ahead of the World Cup.

Dos Santos stroked the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal from the edge of the penalty area in the 13th minute and while Mexico created chance after chance against an inexperienced Scotland, El Tri couldn't extend its lead.

Miguel Layun struck the frame of the goal with a strike from outside the penalty area in the 27th minute and Hirving Lozano also hit the crossbar in the 66th, but Mexico was unable to turn its domination into goals and the crowd got restless towards the end after seeing so many spurned chances.

Mexico outshot Scotland 31-4 over the 90 minutes, with coach Juan Carlos Osorio fielding a fairly strong starting XI with around six or seven likely starters in El Tri's World Cup opener on June 17 against Germany.

Captain Rafa Marquez came on to a rousing reception at half-time in what is likely to be his final game in Mexico before retiring

Earlier on Saturday, coach Juan Carlos Osorio had cut his 27-player squad to 24 players, with Jesus Molina, Jurgen Damm and Oswaldo Alanis all missing out.

Mexico travels to Copenhagen on Sunday evening to prepare for the June 9 friendly against Denmark, which will be El Tri's last game before its World Cup opener.