Mexico Vs. Cuba 2015 Gold Cup Recap: El Tri Annihilates Cuba 6-0 [VIDEO]

Oribe Peralta had a lot of pressure on his shoulders replacing Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez in the starting lineup for Mexico in their opening match of Group play for the 2015 Gold Cup Tournament.

Peralta responded with a hat trick as the forward struck three times in nearly an hour and El Tri absolutely annihilated their Cuban counterparts 6-0 on Thursday.

Peralta stepped into the starting lineup after Chicharito broke his collarbone in the opening half of a friendly against Honduras last Wednesday. The diagnosis was disastrous for Mexico who were told they would be without their star striker for the entirety of the Gold Cup.

But for Peralta, it was an opportunity to once again gain the world class form that he showed flashes of during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Peralta became just the fourth Mexican player to net a hat trick in the Gold Cup, joining Luis Alves, Luis Salvador, and of course, the person whose shoes he was filling, Chicharito.

Peralta opened up the scoring in the 17^th minute off a great header pass by Andrés Guardado.

Carlos Vela scored next scored five minutes later, a great confidence builder for a player who was not a part of the team the last time they made a run in the Gold Cup in 2013.

Peralta scored again in the 37^th minute beating Cuban goalkeeper Disovelis Guerra to the bottom left corner of the net.

Guardado scored the dagger in the final minute of the first half, again using his head from the center of the box to bury a shot into the right corner of the net. Antonio Rios set Guardado up with a beautiful through ball before the goal.

Peralta netted the hat trick in the 62^nd minute when he headed home an easy goal off of a cross from Giovani dos Santos who had come on the pitch five minutes earlier, replacing his brother Jonathan.

The super-sub was not done yet though. Dos Santos scored a goal of his own in the 75th minute after a Miguel Layun through ball found dos Santos wide open in the center of the box where he easily angled a shot into the bottom right corner of the net.

Cuba is considered to be one of the worst teams in the Gold Cup Tournament, so the result was not a surprise, but playing Cuba first to open Group C which also contains Guatemala and Trinidad and Tobago should be a good confidence builder for Miguel Herrera's men.

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