DALLAS, Texas — Champions Mexico will today take aim at a prickly Panama for a place in the final of the CONCACAF Gold Cup when they meet in the feature of a semi-final double-header at Cowboys Stadium here.

Game time is 10:00 pm Eastern Time.

In the opening contest, another CONCACAF powerhouse and four-time Gold Cup champions the USA will look to make another final when they face Central American outfit Honduras. Match time is 7:00 pm.

All four semi-finalists are involved in the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying tournament.

Jamaica, who did not qualify for the Gold Cup, and Costa Rica, who were eliminated at the quarter-final stage, complete the hexagonal play-offs.

In the match-up of Latin teams and before a sold-out 80,000 capacity Cowboys Stadium crowd, a highly charged match-up between Mexico and Panama looms.

Panama go into the game with a psychological edge having defeated Mexico 2-1 at the group stage.

But come today, Mexico, six-time champions, are keen on victory on the course to defending the title they won in 2011, even as the performance of the team has been far from impressive for the most part by their standard.

Uncharacteristically, ‘El Tri’ finished second in Group A after first losing to Panama then going on to defeat Canada and Martinique.

They finished on six points, six goals for and three goals against, which proved enough to send them to the knockout stage.

In the quarter-finals, Mexico defeated a stubborn Trinidad and Tobago 1-0 after Raul Jimenez scored in the 84th minute.

Panama, a team growing in leaps and bounds and a genuine threat, will want to prove that getting this far is not a fluke.

In the knockout stage, they dominated Cuba 6-1 to secure their place in the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, the US, who topped Group C, will fancy their chances of defeating Honduras this evening as they have looked awesome through-out, inspired in the main by the return of Landon Donovan.

The USA have won all four of their matches, pumping in a whopping 16 goals and conceding three.

Jurgen Klinsmann’s lads started the Gold Cup campaign with a 6-1 victory over Belize in Group C. They also defeated Cuba 4-1 and Costa Rica 1-0.

They showed superior class in blowing away El Salvador 5-1 in the quarter-final double-header in Atlanta.

The USA have in their ranks the tournament’s joint leading goalscorer in forward Chris Wondolowski, who has banged in five goals.

He shares the honour with Panama’s Manuel Gabriel Torres.

Group B champions Honduras got to the semis after clipping bitter rivals Costa Rica 1-0.

In the preliminaries, they had victories over Haiti (2-0) and El Salvador (1-0), but suffered a surprise 2-0 defeat Trinidad and Tobago in the group finale.

The final of the Gold Cup will be held at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois, on Sunday.

The champions will carry off US$1 million for the first time.

— SEAN WILLIAMS