The United States earned a big point in World Cup qualifying on Sunday, getting a 1-1 draw against Mexico in the Estadio Azteca, just the third time they’ve ever earned points there in qualifying matches. It wasn’t always a pretty match, but a stunning goal from Michael Bradley was enough to get the point and help boost the USMNT’s standing in the final round of qualifying in CONCACAF.
USA vs. Mexico 2017: Final score 1-1, Americans secure vital point in World Cup qualifying
This was a huge point earned for the USMNT in the Estadio Azteca.
Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
The match started testily, with a pair of hard fouls from Mexico that arguably should have seen El Tri lose a player go completely uncalled. The United States trudged through that, though, and moved forward despite the harsh contact being thrown at them to try and create scoring opportunities — like Michael Bradley pushing up to get on a loose ball in the sixth minute, then chipping Guillermo Ochoa from 40 yards to give the USMNT a shocking early lead.
The U.S. used that early advantage to keep applying pressure to Mexico, but a slow recovery from a corner kick in the 23rd minute allowed Mexico to launch a rapid counter-attack up the pitch, with Carlos Vela schooling DaMarcus Beasley with ease before firing home a shot that Brad Guzan did a poor job of trying to save.
That equalizer threw the match wide open again, with Mexico getting some of their best attacking play in the first half in the 10 minutes after leveling the score. The U.S. certainly had their moments, but Mexico kept improving steadily throughout the match, ultimately shutting down much of their rivals’ attack by the time the halftime whistle blew.
The second half started out basically with one-way traffic, with Mexico hammering away at the U.S. defense. El Tri dominated the early stretches of the half, though the U.S. weren’t held completely quiet, with Christian Pulisic popping up several times in the final third to try and create danger.
The match started to break down into a weird scrum of chances at either end with substandard goalkeeping getting bailed out by woodwork or shoddy finishing.
In the end, though, neither team could find the breakthrough they needed for the winner. Mexican fans seemed frustrated with their team’s performance, not being able to beat what they saw as a sub-par USMNT side, while the traveling Americans were thrilled to see their team win a point for just the third time ever in a World Cup qualifying match at the Estadio Azteca.
It’s a big point for the United States, putting them even on points with Costa Rica in second place in the Hex standings, and giving them a valuable cushion over fourth-place Panama. Getting four points out of these two World Cup qualifying matches was big for the USMNT, and these two performances will prove to be vital to the national team should they qualify at the end of the Hex, because their standing looks much more sure now than it did coming into the week.
United States: Brad Guzan; Geoff Cameron, Omar Gonzalez, Tim Ream; DeAndre Yedlin, Michael Bradley, Kellyn Acosta, DaMarcus Beasley; Paul Arriola (Darlington Nagbe 64’), Bobby Wood (Jozy Altidore 79’), Christian Pulisic
Goals: Bradley (6’)
Mexico: Guillermo Ochoa; Carlos Salcedo, Oswaldo Alanis (Jesus Gallardo 31’), Diego Reyes, Hector Moreno; Jonathan dos Santos (Orbelin Pineda 77’), Hector Herrera, Marco Fabian (Javier Aquino 53’); Carlos Vela, Javier Hernandez, Hirving Lozano
Goals: Vela (23’)
Three things we learned
Sometimes weird things work
When the United States lineup was announced, the general reaction was something between confusion and outright wondering if Bruce Arena was OK. Between the dramatic change in shape and a huge swing in personnel — admittedly with the team traveling on just two days’ rest — it all looked incredibly bizarre, but in the end, it actually kind of worked.
Mexico looked as though they had prepared for a similar diamond midfield to the one that the U.S. employed on Tuesday, but instead got a 3-4-3 that operated very, very differently. That confusion and uncertainty helped lead to the USMNT’s first goal, with no Mexican defender expecting Michael Bradley to be where he was and stepping up to pounce on the loose ball like that. The U.S. got a lot of mileage out of doing the unexpected, and it kept them competitive.
Of course, not every decision worked out — the out-of-form Brad Guzan continued to look, well, out of form. DaMarcus Beasley also looked a step or two slow and struggled to deal with Mexico’s pace and ability to throw numbers at him, and it’s starting to look as though his time as a national team player is about up. But on the balance, Arena’s weird-looking lineup worked, and that’s all that matters in the end.
The kids are alright
When people talk about young Americans on the national team, much of the focus goes straight to Christian Pulisic, and deservedly so. But a pair of other young USMNT players — 21-year-old Kellyn Acosta and 22-year-old Paul Arriola — both stepped up in a big way on Sunday and performed magnificently despite the hostile atmosphere of the Estadio Azteca.
Acosta didn’t look the least bit intimidated despite who he was facing and where he was facing them, laying in challenges and making plays in midfield that we’ve seen many other young Americans shy away from in his position. Arriola was a major presence in the final third as well, making excellent runs and constantly putting pressure on Mexico’s defense to try and make things happen. It was a very impressive showing by both players, and should help earn them significantly more playing time with the senior team in the near future.
Mexico need to get more from their midfield
Despite getting a good result in the match and generally dominating the run of play, there was one thing that Mexico didn’t really get enough of in this match: creative, forward-thinking play from their midfield. With Andres Guardado and Miguel Layun sidelined, Hector Herrera and Jonathan dos Santos simply didn’t give them enough of an attacking, defense-penetrating presence in midfield, and that cost them a number of good opportunities in this match.
Mexico’s equalizer and most of their best attacking play came thanks to an absolutely brilliant individual performance from Carlos Vela, which covered up a lot of the cracks in El Tri’s approach to this match, but the vast majority of the balls that came to him were long balls over the top from their defense. Vela and the rest of Mexico’s attackers had very little support from a midfield that stayed very flat and mostly passed side-to-side, relying instead on service from their fullbacks. That’s not something that’s going to fly in the Confederations Cup, and that will be a tricky puzzle for Juan Carlos Osorio to figure out.
