Published 8/7/2012 6:23:17 PM by Shane Barrow from soccermogul

Japan opened on the front foot, but Mexico finished in style as they ran out 3-1 winners in a London 2012 Olympic semifinal.  An early goal from Yuki Otsu staked Japan to an early lead.  Japan was attempting to join their womens team in the Olympic final.

Mexico took control of the match from there and were deserved winners.  Just before halftime Mexico got the match even 1-1 as a near post header was flicked in by Marco Fabian.  The second half was all Mexico.

A questionable distribution from the Japan goalkeeper led to the gamebreaking goal.  Shuichi Gonda rolled a ball to a central defender about 30 yards from goal.  The defender was quickly turned over by Oribe Peralta who took a couple of touches and rifled a perfect shot into the top corner of the goal.

"Beautiful," was the way Peralta described his shot from outside the penalty area in front of 80,000 fans at Wembley. "I have never scored a goal that went so close to the top corner," he said. "That goal represented everything we tried to do today because I fought for the ball, I got it back and I shot with all my strength."

Deep into extra time, Javier Cortes cut into the box from the right wing, took the back-heel from Peralta, beat a defender, then sent the ball through the legs of Gonda to cap the victory.

Mexico will play Saturday against Brazil for the gold medal after Brazil squashed South Korea 3-0 in the other semifinal.

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