Derby County’s Nathaniel Mendez-Laing was unable to help Guatemala reach the Semi-Final stage of the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup on Sunday evening.
Guatemala, after topping Group D earlier in the competition, were beaten 1-0 by Jamaica in their Quarter Final in Cincinnati with Amari’i Bell of Luton Town scoring the only goal of the game early in the second half.
Mendez-Laing played the full 90 minutes to claim his fourth international cap but, despite their best efforts, they were unable to make it into the final four and it will instead be Jamaica facing Mexico to compete for a place in the Final.
After being named in their squad for the Gold Cup, Mendez-Laing claimed his first international cap in Guatemala’s Group D opener against Cuba in Fort Lauderdale and he also started their matches against Canada and Guadeloupe.
Mendez-Laing, who made 51 appearances for Derby in the 2022/23 season and scored eight times, has missed the start of pre-season training ahead of the 2023/24 campaign with Paul Warne’s squad but he will now return home and could link up with the squad at their training camp in Spain this week.
The 31-year-old forward qualifies to play for Guatemala through his grandmother and also his mother, who were both born in the Central American country, and he recently secured the relevant documentation to represent them at international level.
