Dos A Cero Forever and Ever: The USMNT Beats Mexico For The Third Time In A Row Since June

 

    Remember when the USMNT (4-2-1) was on the brink of utter disaster just a few short months ago? That hardly seems to matter now as they beat their archrival Mexico (4-2-1) 2-0 tonight at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati, OH. Canada (3-4-0) held off Costa Rica (1-3-3) this evening in Edmonton leaving the Canadians one point behind both the United States and Mexico. Panama (3-2-2) is the only other country that is in the same neighborhood as those top three teams. Any victory against Mexico is a huge one but this carried extra meaning since it vaulted the U.S. to the top of their eight country CONCACAF group. It was also the first loss of this round (the 3rd) of qualifying for the Mexicans and it meant that the Americans have now beaten them in three staright matches dating back to this past June-something that neither country has done in this epic series since 1937. 

    It was scoreless at halftime and it remained 0-0 for much of the second half before the U.S. got a jolt of energy from its best player (who was a substitute) followed by an insurance goal by another one of their main stars. Of course, this was all made possible by goalkeeper Zack Steffen (4 saves) who earned the shutout with some solid play including a diving stop on a partial breakaway by Hirving Lozano-Mexico's best goal scorer-in the 18th minute. Forward Christian Pulisic did not start because he's only played two games for his club team-Chelsea-since returning from a serious ankle injury. In five minutes of action though, he made an immediate impact as he connected on a diving header with fellow forward Timothy Weah providing a picture perfect cross from the right side into the box. 

    Much like Pulisic, midfielder Weston McKennie is already proving to be a big-game performer for the USMNT not to mention his powerhouse club (Juventus). Unfortuately, in the 68th minute he picked up a yellow card for the second match in a row so he will miss the next U.S. World Cup qualifier-on Tuesday (5, Paramount+) at Jamaica (1-3-3). He made up for that by corraling a loose ball and dribbling through or around multiple Mexican defenders before finishing a low shot into the corner of the net. That made it 2-0 in favor of the U.S. in the 85th minute and stunned Mexico never had any time to recover. The only other negative for the Americans was that defender Miles Robinson picked up a red card in the 89th minute on a shaky at best call. He will sit out as well on Tuesday meaning that head coach Gregg Berhalter needs to make at least two changes to his starting lineup from tonight. 

    Finally, Tuesday night represents a golden opportunity for the U.S. to try and separate itself a bit at the top of the table. Sure from the outside it appears to have all the makings of the usual CONCACAF trap game that affects every country in this wacky region from time to time: they are facing an underdog opponent on a shoddy field and in a terrible stadium that has next to nothing to lose at this point. You'll remember that the previous time that the USMNT and Jamaica met on October 7, the Americans walked away with a 2-0 victory in Austin, TX. It will take another strong team effort to get the desired result of three more points. It is also their final World Cup 2022 qualifier in 2021 and the next one after that won't be for over two months (vs. El Salvador on January 27) so what better way to go into the holidays than with a win?

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The USMNT & Mexico Staged An Instant Classic In The First-Ever Concacaf Nations League Final

 

    Tonight's 2021 Concacaf Nations League Final pitting the U.S. men vs. their archrival Mexico in Denver's Empower Field at Mile High, was further proof that you could put these two teams in any almost venue and/or match situation and they will probably produce something wildly entertaining. This was the first time this mini-tournament had ever been held and it turned out to be a very memorable one as the USMNT defeated Mexico 3-2 in extra time. The three top American attacking players of this new era-Giovanni Reyna, Weston McKennie and Christian Pulisic-fittingly all scored goals while backup goalkeeper Ethan Horvath (a complete unknown to everyone but the most hardcore U.S. fan) was an unexpected hero after he came on following Zack Steffen's non-contact knee injury (yikes). 

    There was some awful defending right from the start by the host Americans as fullback Mark McKenzie (who is normally a forward) gave the ball away to Jesus Corona less than a minute into the match and the Mexican forward blasted a shot over Steffen's shoulder for a shocking 1-0 lead. The U.S. settled down and eventually tied it at one in the 27th minute as McKennie's header went off the crossbar allowing Reyna to get an easy tap-in when the Mexican backline was slow to react to the loose ball. It was 1-1 at halftime and stayed that way for much of the second half before everything went crazy. Steffen left the field in the 69th minute after he appeared to tweak something in his knee when he was about to do a drop kick. Yeesh, hopefully it's not too serious since he is firmly entrenched as the No. 1 American goalkeeper for the near future. However, Horvath who is from Colorado and plays at Club Brugge in Belgium was very impressive in such a tough spot. He did allow the go-ahead goal 10 minutes later but it could hardly be deemed his fault as some lazy marking by the U.S. defense allowed Mexican forward Diego Lainez to receive a cross at his feet and calmly put it in the net. 

    McKennie was named the best player of the tournament & the man of the match for a reason since he was dangerous all night on headers. In fact, he tied it up three minutes later with Reyna hitting a corner kick which the young Juventus midfielder was able to knock past Mexico's goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa. It was 2-2 at the end of regulation and the score remained the same after the first 15 minutes of extra time. In the second half of extra time, Pulisic was taken down in the box by Mexican defender Carlos Salcedo in the 109th minute. VAR checked it and it held up allowing Pulisic to blast his penalty kick to the upper right corner in the 114th minute. McKenzie's nightmare outing continued as he was whistled for a handball in the box in the 119th minute. That ruling was also reviewed by VAR and stood up. However, Horvath bailed out his teammate in spectacular fashion by making a diving stop on Mexico's midfielder Andres Guardado's (who had subbed in earlier) penalty kick in the 124th minute. The U.S. had to sweat out seven (!) more minutes of stoppage time but they somehow managed to survive it for the thrilling victory which gave them their first trophy in ages.

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After Beating Honduras 1-0, USMNT Advances To The Concacaf Nations League Final Vs. Mexico

 

    With NHL and NBA playoff games on tonight, I'm not going to assume that you were glued to the USMNT vs. Honduras in the inaugural Concacaf Nations League semifinal at Empower Field at Mile High. Still, it had some relevance since it was the USMNT's first official competitive match since way back in November 2019. Head coach Gregg Berhalter put together the second-youngest starting 11 in USMNT history and it worked as they squeezed out a 1-0 victory thanks to substitute Jordan Siebatcheu's clutch header in the 89th minute. Oh by the way, it was his first USMNT appearance, talk about making an instant impact! Most importantly, this sets up a juicy title game between the US and Mexico on Sunday night (9:36, CBS Sports Network). 

    If we want to take a more critical view, with most of their best players in the lineup (namely Zack Steffen, Sergino Dest, Weston McKennie, Gio Reyna and Christian Pulisic), you would expect the Americans to dominate against one of their mediocre Concacaf brethren. Honduras surprisingly had some good scoring chances too as Sargent cleared a ball off the goal line in the 27th minute with a great backwards header and Steffen also came out to challenge a shot in the 51st minute that could have been a goal if he was slower to react. Before their goal, the best opportunities for the US came on a Reyna shot early on that went inches wide of the net, a Sargent header in the 30th minute and Pulisic was stuffed in the next minute from in close. 

    This would have gone straight to penalty kicks if it was tied after regulation but thankfully it didn't have to come to that. The game-winning play came when defender John Brooks crossed the ball to McKennie who headed it back to the middle where Siebatcheau dove for a powerful header. I would say that the USMNT will have to play much better on Sunday to beat Mexico but they struggled as well and hung on for a 5-4 victory in penalty kicks against Costa Rica in the other semifinal. Hopefully playing each other brings out the best in these bitter rivals. I cannot think of a better way to wrap up the weekend and get this summer of soccer started than with the latest chapter of the USMNT vs. Mexico. 

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Christian Pulisic (Chelsea) Became The First American To Appear In A Champions League Final

 

    The USMNT still has a ways to go but today was a special moment as its brightest star-Christian Pulisic-became the first American to ever appear in a Champions League Final as Chelsea blanked its Premier League rival Manchester City 1-0 to win its second Champions League title in club history. The 22-year-old from Hershey, PA subbed in for striker Timo Werner in the 66th minute and just missed scoring the insurance goal that would have put Chelsea up 2-0 on the favored Manchester City who won the Premier League this season. In 24 minutes of action off the bench, Pulisic had 19 touches of the ball and made 16 passes while recording one shot. He capped off an up-and-down season personally in the best possible way, as a legitimate contributor to the top club team in the world. 

    In 10 Champions League games this season (which included four starts), Pulisic had two goals and two assists. In 27 Premier League appearances in 2020-21 (18 starts), he had four goals and two assists. He also played in six FA Cup matches (three starts) and two USMNT friendlies where he added a goal in two starts. It's been a very busy stretch for Pulisic who battled a hamstring injury and saw his former manager at Chelsea-Frank Lampard-get fired and be replaced by his old Borussia Dortmund boss Thomas Tuchel. It's easy to get caught up in the frustrating aspects but the bottom line is that there he was smiling from ear-to-ear and lifting the Champions League trophy this afternoon in Porto with his Chelsea teammates so that had to make all the hard times well worth it. 

    For the record, he wasn't the only American there either as Manchester City's backup goalkeeper for most of the season was Zack Steffen-another native of Pennsylvania. He was understandably stuck behind City's star Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson but the 26-year-old still managed to get in the occasional starts in the League Cup, the FA Cup, some USMNT friendlies, the Premier League and the Champions League in this past campaign. This is a guy who was in MLS just a few years ago so I'd say that his future also looks very bright considering how far he's come in his career. More than anything with the next World Cup coming up in 2022, seeing Pulisic and Steffen as key parts of two of the best club teams in the world, as a fan of the USMNT you have to be psyched about the future with so many talented players scattered all around the world.

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Oh Hey Guys, the USMNT Advanced to the Gold Cup Final vs. Mexico With a 3-1 Win vs. Jamaica

Even the most serious person would have a hard time keeping a straight face when they pretend to compare the importance of the Women's World Cup to the utter irrelevance of the Gold Cup. That's why I have failed to mention anything about the USMNT in the Gold Cup this summer until just now because beating up on the likes of Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Panama and Curacao (outscoring them 12-0 in the process) means very little to a hardcore soccer fan like myself so who else would really care?

However, in the slowest sports time of the year I started to come around to this bi-annual event with Mexico's 1-0 extra time victory over powerhouse Haiti last night in the semifinals. All the U.S. had to do was take care of business tonight in Nashville vs. Jamaica (who they beat in the 2017 Gold Cup Final) and they survived a 90-minute weather delay (due to lightning) en route to a 3-1 victory.

Do you realize how incredibly special Sunday could be for U.S. soccer in general? While our beloved USWNT meet the Netherlands (11, FOX) in the World Cup Final for the main course, the night cap is a juicy USMNT vs. Mexico showdown in Chicago (9, FS1). U.S. vs. Mexico is always must-see TV and especially in a setting like this which should be electric. If that's not enough to entice you to wrap up your holiday weekend with Gregg Berhalter's hodgepodge collection of youngsters and a few veterans, think about this: midfielder Christian Pulisic at the ripe old age of 20 is already the best men's player in USMNT history. Not convinced? Well he had two goals tonight but let's not forget that this summer he will begin his journey at Chelsea (England), you know one of the best and most powerful clubs in the world. The U.S. failing to qualify for last summer's World Cup was a disaster for a million reasons but I will always point to missing out on Pulisic getting to play against the world's top teams and players at such a young age would have been utterly awesome.

Pulisic gets most of the headlines as he should but there are other intriguing talents on the USMNT that you probably aren't aware of. Midfielder Weston McKennie (who recently signed an extension with Schalke of Germany's Bundesliga) opened the scoring with a pretty goal in the ninth minute. It all began with a long pass from Michael Bradley (yes, he's still a thing) to Reggie Cannon who one-touched it into the box for Jozy Altidore (soon to be Mr. Sloane Stephens to you) who laid it off for McKennie to blast by Jamaican goalkeeper Andre Blake. It was McKennie's second goal of the tournament, his other one was the game-winner in the previous match (a snoozefest 1-0 quarterfinal win vs. Curacao). Pulisic and McKennie have been friends for awhile as you can tell from their fantastic post-goal celebrations.

U.S. goalkeeper Zack Steffen is leaving the Columbus Crew (MLS) for Manchester City (England) but first, he'll be loaned to Dusseldorf (Germany). He only had to make three saves against Jamaica but a few of those were quality stops. After returning from the long delay, the U.S. was up 1-0 at halftime. In the 52nd minute, Pulisic pounced on a juicy rebound after Blake fumbled a relatively easy shot from Jordan Morris. It was Pulisic's 12th career goal for the USMNT and his second of the 2019 Gold Cup. McKennie and Altidore both picked up yellow cards in the first half so it was no surprise that Jozy was Berhalter's first sub out-in the 56th minute-as Gyasi Zardes came on for him. Also, his fitness level is shall we see not at peak condition at the moment.

Jamaica turned up the offensive pressure and they were rewarded with a goal in the 69th minute as forward Shamar Nicholson (who entered 4 minutes earlier) headed in a cross from midfielder Leon Bailey. It was the first goal conceded by the Americans in the tournament so there is that. There were some nervy moments for the U.S. hanging on to that 2-1 lead as midfielder Cristian Roldan replaced his Seattle Sounders teammate Morris in the 70th minute. Pulisic refused to let his squad lose though as once again, Blake was extremely generous in his rebound control. He made a diving save on Paul Arriola's shot from outside the box but Pulisic was able to jump up from the ground and put in some more loose change. In the process, he became only the second U.S. player to score a brace (2 goals) in the Gold Cup semifinals, joining Landon Donovan.

This will be the U.S.' 11th appearance in the Gold Cup Final which is a tournament record and they have made it this far in seven of the last eight editions. Dating back to the 2017 Gold Cup, they have won 10 straight games in the competition and five in a row overall. It feels like it is always U.S. vs. Mexico in the Final but this is only the sixth time out of 15 times that it's happened (Mexico is 4-1 with the only U.S triumph coming 12 years ago). In the history of the Gold Cup, the Mexicans have the most titles (7) but the Americans can tie that with a win on Sunday. Mexico always draws huge crowds wherever they go (don't forget your festive bags of urine to throw at your most hated U.S. players!) and hopefully a decent amount of U.S. fans show up in Chicago as well, it is on their home soil after all. Hopefully as we are basking in the glow of the fourth USWNT World Cup crown, we see an entertaining match between these two countries that genuinely hate each other. The USMNT has a long way to go towards earning back many of the fans it lost over the last few depressing years but a win against Mexico would be a nice way to kick start that effort.

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