Same ol' same ol' for US at Mexico

Going into yesterday's World Cup qualifier against Mexico at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, the US had a history of futility playing on Mexican soil, going 0-22-1. 19 of those games were played at the Azteca, where they were 0-18-1. Not good. But coming off their success at the Confederations Cup, this looked to be a different US team, a more confident US team. Yes, they lost the Gold Cup final to Mexico 5-0 only a couple of weeks ago, but that was a B team of guys who should barely sniff the field come World Cup time (save for a handful), so you could discount that result. A US win would have been historic, and at the same time would have put Mexico in real danger of missing out on the World Cup completely. But alas, it was not to be, as the US put in a performance that reminded you of so many other trips to Mexico City, predictably losing after Mexico dominated them for most of the game.

The first thing that confused the hell out of me was that Bob Bradley started Brian Ching instead of Jozy Altidore up front, and Steve Cherundolo instead of Jonathan Spector at right back. Neither of these moves made sense seeing as Jozy and Charlie Davies have been our best forward pair by far in a long time, and Ching never really seems to make an impact during big, important games. Spector also had a great Confederations Cup, whereas Cherundolo was coming off of an injury. Both of these moves turned out to be a mistake as Ching was nearly invisible throughout the match, and when he actually did get a touch, it was usually poor. Cherundolo was also bad in this match as he repeatedly was burned on the left flank by Mexican attackers. But despite these personnel missteps, the US took a surprising 1-0 lead in the 9th minute after Landon Donovan sent a beautiful ball through to Charlie Davies, who busted in on goal and finished cleanly. It was the kind of start the US had dreamed of, and one you would have thought would put Mexico in a funk and take the crowd out of the match because they would be dreading the worst. The opposite happened, however, and Mexico was spurred to life, dominating the rest of the first half and owning nearly all of the possession. It was only a matter of time before they scored, and they duly obliged in the 19th minute when Israel Castro hit an unstoppable shot from 25 yards out after no US defender closed him down, presumably because they were gassed from spending all of their time in the defensive zone. The US would have a chance to clear after regaining possession, and then either clear it out of bounds, or send it straight to a Mexican player. It also wasn't a good thing that the first half ended with Oguchi Onyewu, Jay Demerit, and Carlos Bocanegra all having received yellow cards during the half, meaning they couldn't be overly aggressive in the second half for fear of being sent off.

The second half began much like the first had ended, with Mexico enjoying most, if not all, of the possession, which resulted in many good chances on goal, most notably Giovani Dos Santos' chance in the 59th that Tim Howard made a spectacular save on. Ching was mercifully subbed out soon after, along with Ricardo Clark, who was equally ineffective. In their places came Stuart Holden and Benny Feilhaber, and thanks to Holden, the US attack was spurred on for a brief period. In the 71st minute Holden burst down the right flank and sent in a picture perfect cross to Davies, who just barely missed getting his head on it to send it on goal. Shortly thereafter, the US had another chance where Davies broke in on goal alone, but he was ruled to be offside just barely. Things got chippy soon after, as they usually do during a US-Mexico match. Davies was laying on the turf due to cramps, but the Mexico players assumed he was wasting time, so they tried grabbing him and picking him up, which Benny and the rest of the US took offense to, so they ran to Davies aid. A small scuffle ensued, with Benny getting hit in the throat and a yellow card being given to the Mexican who hit him. Altidore came on for Davies at this point, but it did nothing to help a US defense that couldn't get out of their own zone for the life of them. The constant Mexican possession once again told, as Miguel Sabah picked up a loose ball in the box and fired it past Howard for the game-winner. As a US fan you felt it coming, but it was nonetheless crushing, and as a result we left Mexico City with 0 points, whereas Mexico is back in the hunt and more assured of a World Cup birth.

The US was certainly done no favors by the referee in this game, as it seemed Mexico was given the benefit of the doubt whenever he blew his whistle. But it was not the refereeing that lost this game for the US. They lost because, while the defense was resilient at times, they were unable to clear the ball effectively to start up any sort of attack. Against Spain and Brazil in the Confederations Cup, their clearances were mostly all effective, starting up a counter-attacking game that you knew the US would need to replicate to get a good result in Mexico. But this time, instead of the clearances getting to Michael Bradley or Clint Dempsey, they either went to a Mexican player, or to no one in particular, which is why Mexico dominated possession throughout. In the high-altitude, smog-filled Azteca, you knew this kind of dominance would eventually tire out the US defense, which it ultimately did. I also think they were undone by Nery Castillo's horrific unibrow, which I would think would make it impossible to concentrate on the ball when a man that ugly is trying to take it from you:



Pretty bad right? But anyway, and all kidding aside, the US needs to be better at starting their attack from defensive clearances, and I think they will. Their next qualifier is September 5th against El Salvador, who are not the greatest team, so they should win convincingly. There were many lessons to be learned from our day at the Azteca, so hopefully this team continues to grow and build momentum towards South Africa 2010.