Unlikely hero Gutierrez rescues Mexico from Olympic embarrassment

The Pachuca midfielder rarely gets in the headlines for his scoring but had a four-goal showing to help El Tri overcome a listless performance and stay alive.

After 45 minutes of Mexico's Olympic group stage match against Fiji, it looked like coach Raul "Potro" Gutierrez was going to be embarrassed. After 90 minutes, it seemed like he was a master motivator.

Potro's reigning gold-medal winners went into the break down 1-0 to the minnow from the Pacific Islands, a team that started its tournament with an 8-0 defeat to South Korea. They came out with a 5-1 win thanks to a tremendous four-goal half from Erick Gutierrez.

It was not a good day for Mexico. Fiji scored the opener thanks to an error…