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?
