Mexico defeats Gabon 2-0 in Olympic soccer

Substitute Giovani Dos Santos scored twice in the second half to give Mexico a 2-0 victory over Gabon on Sunday in the men's Olympic soccer tournament.

Dos Santos came on after the break and opened the scoring in the 63rd minute before converting a penalty in injury time at City of Coventry Stadium.

The win puts Mexico atop Group B with four points, while Gabon has one.

"We are now psychologically strong," Mexico coach Luis Fernando Tena said. "We know we are almost there, but we need to beat Switzerland in the next game to make it to the next round, so we need to push hard the whole game."

Switzerland faced South Korea later Sunday in the second group game of the day.

Mexico was held to a disappointing scoreless draw by South Korea in its opener but was dominant on Sunday. Mexico's first real chance came in the seventh minute when Marco Fabian forced a low save from Gabon keeper Didier Ovono on a stinging shot.

Hector Herrera had a long-range effort stopped by Ovono in the 32nd and Oribe Peralta headed wide from a free kick just before halftime.

Gabon tried to counterattack but couldn't get past the organized Mexican back line during the first half.

Mexico coach Luis Fernando Tena brought on Dos Santos for Miguel Ponce after the break, and the Tottenham striker gave his team the lead with a curling shot past Ovono after a clever backheel from Peralta put him through on goal.

Gabon pressed for an equalizer and was almost rewarded in the 70th minute when Mexico goalkeeper Jose Corona had to dive low to his right to save an effort from Pierre Aubemayang.

But Henri Ndong was sent off in injury time for fouling Peralta in the box, and Dos Santos netted the resulting penalty to put the game beyond doubt.

Gabon coach Claude Mbourounot blamed his team's defensive frailty.

"Today there were costly errors that proved decisive, but I think offensively we were very good, and we had quite a few chances to score," he said. "If we were more fluid in the final half, we could have come away with something from the game."