USA vs. Mexico, 2014 World Cup qualifying: Dos a cero

Mexico used to be a measuring stick for the United States. Their professional league has been in place in something resembling its current form since 1970, and they’re a massive soccer-crazy nation whose player pool is always deep. They’ve made the round of 16 at the World Cup in five straight tournaments. They’re a legitimately good team and have been for a long time.

Playing them twice in qualifying and a handful of other times in friendlies and Gold Cup between cycles is great for the United States because they’re the only other consistently good team in the CONCACAF region. If the U.S. can beat Mexico, it probably means that they’re good enough to hang with the world’s best at the World Cup.

It’s 2013, and the three most American things are apple pie, beer and beating Mexico 2-0 in soccer.

Two of those three things happened Tuesday night in Columbus.

Better but still nowhere near good enough.

Eddie Johnson, who took a bit of a shot to the head earlier in the half, was replaced by Mix Diskerud in the 76th minute. Johnson looked a bit woozy as he left the pitch.

In the wake of the goal the overall feel the game didn’t change. The US was still happy to sit back and counter attack while Mexico were able to work the ball into the attacking third but then quickly run out of ideas.

Interim head coach Luis Fernando Tena’s first adjustment was to remove easily the best Mexican attacker on the evening, Christian Giménez, and bring on Hector Herrera.

Mexico were the aggressors and the better side in the opening fifteen minutes of the match but they couldn’t take advantage of their chances.

Mexico came very close to taking the lead in the 19th minute after a turnover in the midfield allowed El Tri to break. The ball ended up popping out right where it was picked up by Christian Giménez who hit the brakes and cut back to the left before firing a shot that was pushed away by Tim Howard

Giménez cut back to the right creating a pocket of space and fired a hard shot that was parried away by Tim Howard.

The US came ever so close to taking the lead in the 31st minute when Eddie Johnson was left open in the middle of the box on a corner kick. Johnson skied over a defender and headed the ball on target where Jose de Jesus Corona was waiting to make a save.

The scariest moment early was in the 7th minute when an attempted clearance by DaMarcus Beasley was mishit back on frame, but Tim Howard was in the right spot to prevent an own-goal.

Before you start speculating about exactly how wild the team party was at the hotel last night, Roger Bennett of Men in Blazers has an explanation.

With Michael Bradley hurt and Jozy Altidore, Geoff Cameron and Matt Besler suspended, the United States needed to introduce four new players to their starting 11 for their matchup against Mexico. ESPN told us about this via AMERICA DOT JPEG

Alejandro Bedoya, Eddie Johnson, Clarence Goodson, and Kyle Beckerman are MT. RUSHMORE, THE STATUE OF LIBERTY, THE CAPITOL, AND THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE. The only way this could’ve been better is if the US had literally started an eagle or if ESPN had photoshopped their heads onto Rushmore instead of just tucking it in the top right.

On paper, the teams look like they’re playing matching 4-2-3-1 formations with fast, goal-poaching forwards and attacking midfielders that like to cut inside. Don’t be shocked to see Mexico attack in more of a 4-3-3 formation, however. Look to see if Jesus Zavala is deep as a lone holder when Mexico have the ball.

• Saying so long to the woefully incompetent Chepo de la Torre

• Full coverage of UEFA World Cup qualifying

Meanwhile, the United States are in the unfamiliar position of not exactly needing a home win against Mexico, but they can potentially clinch a World Cup berth if they pull it off.

Interim Mexico boss Luis Fernando Tena has, perhaps unfairly, been thrust into the biggest game of his professional life without warning. No matter how far he makes it in management, he’s unlikely too many more games of this magnitude. Mexico currently sit in fourth place in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying and will likely be put into a position where they will need two wins and some help to qualify for the World Cup directly should they lose on Tuesday.

ESPN does few things better than it does international soccer, and will continue to make its stamp on the sport Tuesday with 17 qualifiers airing on the network’s ESPN3/WatchESPN service. In fact, if you have that service, ESPN will super-serve you. The network, as it did on Friday for the first World Cup qualifying date this month, will air FIFA World Cup Whiparound: Quest to Qualify. This comparison gets old, but yes, it’s basically the Red Zone channel for World Cup Qualifying.

ESPN will air two and a half hours of pre-game coverage live from Columbus. ESPN FC will broadcast live from Columbus Crew Stadium from 5:30 to 7 p.m. ET, and then a dedicated one-hour pre-game show will lead into live match coverage at 8 p.m. ET. Seriously, American soccer fans, two and a half hours to preview a key qualifying match. The sport has broken another barrier in terms of television coverage in this country.

Dos. A. Cero.

Whenever the USA met Mexico at home in World Cup qualifying, they went to Columbus, Ohio, home of the country’s first soccer-specific stadium. Each time, the USA came away winners. When Team USMNT met Mexico in the biggest match the two countries have ever played in a near 80-year rivalry -- the Round of 16 at the 2002 World Cup -- they came away winners. And, all four times, it came by the same score: 2-0.

Mexico are a complete mess in the wake of their loss against Honduras. José Manuel de la Torre was fired in the hours after the match and while Luis Fernando Tena was named the interim coach, the Mexican federation may have a new coach in place before Tena even get’s a shot to even try and earn the job. Whatever ends up happening on the coaching front is secondary at this point for Mexico as they desperately need points against the US to avoid potentially falling farther down the table.

Match Date/Time: Tuesday, 8 p.m. ET