By Dylan Butler

EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey - Halftime substitute Carlos Vela scored a goal and set up two others to lift Mexico to a 5-0 win against the United States to win the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup in front of a sellout crowd of 79,156 at Giants Stadium Sunday afternoon.

It was Mexico's record fifth Gold Cup title and first since 2003, and El Tri's first win against the Americans outside of Mexico since 1999, ending a 15-game winless streak. The United States also saw its 58-game home unbeaten streak against CONCACAF opponents snapped as five different Mexicans scored in the second half.

"We tried to change some things and you never expect five goals in 45 minutes and for the balance to tip so drastically from one half to the other," Mexico coach Javier Aguirre said. "We were expecting to win this game before it was even played, but not with such a wide difference."

Vela, who came on at the start of the second half for Alberto Medina, immediately changed Mexico's fortunes. He played a ball inside the box to Giovani dos Santos, who had his back to goal. Dos Santos and Jay Heaps both went down and Jamaican referee Courtney Campbell pointed to the penalty spot.

"I think there was a second one that the referee didn't call, that was a lot cleaner than the first one," said Dos Santos, who was named the tournament MVP. "Btu that is the way soccer is. The refs do their jobs just like we do ours. The end of the game was ours and everything went our way."

Mexican captain Gerardo Torrado stepped up and beat U.S. goalkeeper Troy Perkins with the penalty kick in the 56th minute to give El Tri the lead.

"I do not think it was a penalty," U.S. coach Bob Bradley said.

In the 62nd minute, Dos Santos scored on a rebound after Miguel Sabbah's shot was saved by Perkins to make it 2-0 and five minutes later, Dos Santos slipped Vela through and he chipped Perkins to give Mexico a commanding 3-0 lead.

In the 79th minute, Vela fed Jose Antonio Castro, who got behind the United States backline and beat Perkins for a fourth goal. The Americans gave up more goals in the second half than they had in their previous five games combined.

"When the game opens up in the second half, they're the kind of players that can take advantage of space and they did very well today," Bradley said.

Things went from bad to worse for the United States two minutes from full time when Heaps was sent off with his second yellow card.

Two minutes later, Fausto Pinto found an open Guillermo Franco, who struck for the fifth goal.

"It was tough," U.S. midfielder Kyle Beckerman said. "It seemed that every shot they took was going in. They did a really good job of finishing. We just got a bit out of shape, going for it a bit too much and they really took advantage of it."

Stuart Holden had the first quality scoring chance of the match, taking a pass from Robbie Rogers, but he fired wide to Guillermo Ochoa's left from the right edge of the penalty area in the 28th minute.

Two minutes later Mexico had its first corner kick, but Sabah headed Medina's corner wide from 10 meters.

Medina had an active first half. In the 45th minute he found himself open on the left side, but Chad Marshall recovered nicely and Medina was unable to attempt a shot.

Moments later, the longtime Chivas de Guadalajara midfielder was cautioned for delaying a restart by Campbell, one of three yellow cards handed out in the opening 45 minutes.

Also in first-half stoppage time, Dos Santos had room to run and slipped a pass to Medina, but after taking one touch, he rolled the ball wide of the far post.

But after a scoreless and even first half, Mexico seized control of the game, mounting a sustained attack in the final third for a historic and lopsided victory. El Tri avenged a 2-1 loss in the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup final. Mexico also defeated the United States 4-0 in the 1993 final and 1-0 in the 1998 title game.

"We feel good about it, but we can't carry history around," Aguirre said of winning on U.S. soil. "The 90 minutes that we played against the U.S. ends today and on August 12, we have another game. The players came out today to play this match and weren't thinking about the past."