Trinidad and Tobago's bid for a spot in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa suffered another blow Wednesday when Mexico defeated them 2-1 to stretch their winless run in the CONCACAF play-offs to five games.
Guillermo Franco and Oscar Rojas struck the decisive goals for the struggling Mexicans, who revived their status with their second win in five games.
In the night's other game, Honduras defeated El Salvador to strengthen their position in the standings, which show Costa Rica out front with 12 points, followed by the USA (10).
Honduras are now up to third on seven points, one ahead of the Mexicans (6) with El Salvador (5) in fifth place.
With a record of two draws and three defeats in their five games, T&T are bottom of the table with two points.
Rojas connected with a fine long range shot early in the second half to give the Mexicans the winner at the Azteca Stadium Wednesday night.
He scored with a 35-yard blast three minutes into the second half to sink the Soca Warriors, who had rallied - after conceding an early goal - to lock the scores at 1-1 just before half time.
Perfect start
Mexico had secured a perfect start when Franco, of Villareal FC in Spain, scored in the first minute.
The clock had just ticked over to 59 seconds into the game when Nery Castillo placed a pass through the T&T defence for Franco, who collected and chipped over T&T goalkeeper Clayton Ince for the 1-0 lead.
Mexico peppered the visitors with offence but Trinidad and Tobago's goalkeeper Clayton Ince made a string of huge saves to keep his side competitive.
The Soca Warriors rode the pressure and gradually got back into the match.
Hayden Tinto boosted T&T's chance with a superb strike just before the break.
In the first minute of stoppage time, Tinto pounced on an errant back-pass from Andres Guardado at the top of Mexico's defensive third and beat two defenders before driving a fierce right-footer from inside the box that beat Mexico's goalkeeper Oscar Perez into the upper right corner.
Mexico restored their lead - through Franco's goal - in the 48th minute and kept it to the end to ensure maximum points, delivering a much-needed win for Javier Aguirre, who took over as Mexico's coach in April after Sven-Goran Eriksson was fired.