Final thoughts:
So Dos a Cero again, though for all the inevitable and deserved attention on Jordan Morris and Juan Agudelo’s “Dos” arguably the big takeway for the USA was the “Cero” as they not only managed to not concede in the second half, but did so via maintaining and even improving their second half performance to buck a worrying trend of 15 goals conceded in the last 15 minutes of games since June last year.
The fact that it was the USA’s biggest rivals who helped them break the streak is a significant sweetener for Jürgen Klinsmann as he faces his critics - not to mention the vindication of his youth policy with Morris’s goal.
For Herrera, other contingencies affected his decisions as the game went on — as the game began to drift away from the Mexicans, he seemed to shift to blooding new and fringe players with the bigger picture of this summer’s two squads in mind. Ironically enough, that’s a very Klinsmann-esque rationale.
Appropriate in some ways that Agudelo got his goal — he can perhaps whisper a little bit of cautionary advice to Morris on what it means to be annointed overnight as the future. He’s been there himself, and perhaps enjoyed tonight’s goal all the more for it’s redemptive qualities.
Tonight was all about the US team redeeming themselves however. Thanks for joining me and sorry I didn’t get to use all your emails or tweets. See you next time. Good night.
Final score: USA 2-0 Mexico
Final thoughts in a minute.
90 mins +3: Another Mexican foul brings up a dangerous free kick wide right that the US will be slow to take. Bradley floats it to the back of the box, but it’s over Gonzalez’s head...and that will be that.
90 mins+2: Yedlin and Kitchen get their feet in to try and prevent Mexican progress through the midfield and the latter picks up a foul off the challenge by Rodriguez to eat up the clock a little more.
90 mins +1: USA, under pressure try to play the ball forwards but Bradley’s attempted through ball for Zardes doesn’t find him.
90 mins: Still tension in this game — less for the result and more for whether the USA can see out a second half without conceding. And now it’s heart in mouth time for their defense as Torres gets in amongst the defense chasing a ball over the top and in the ensuing scramble he’s just crowded out from poking the ball goalwards as he falls to the turf. Yarbrough claims.
We’ll have three added minutes.
88 mins: Mexico not done looking for something to take from this game, but they have defending to do now as a slightly wild Shea crossfield ball picks out Yedlin, who’s forward run earns a corner.
Bradley drives it to the back of the box and Kitchen gets a header off, but it’s well wide. Attendance has just been confirmed as 64,369 by the way. Many of them rather grumpy right now, judging by the predominance of green in the stadium.
86 mins: USA still going for another goal here but Bradley loses out under pressure from Rios as he tries to look goalwards from Zardes’s cut back.
Klinsmann heading for the 6th result in his unbeaten streak against Mexico now. Given recent circumstances, this is a big result for him.
84 mins: Another Mexico sub, another debut. Seems clear where Herrera’s priorities are now. Marco Antonio Bueno on for Herrera.
82 mins: Brad Evans on for Diskerud and he moves over to right back to push Yedlin forward for this final ten minutes. An awkward high ball from Omar Gonzalez almost catches out Dominguez ball-watching as Inbarra races forward to challenge him, but Mexico work it clear.
80 mins: Another USA corner now as Diskerud does well to keep a move going. He’s played smartly tonight. Bradley’s corner whipped in and on and hooked off the line!
Montes off for Rios for Mexico, just as the USA fashion another chance. THis time it’s Kitchen’s driven shot through traffic on the edge of the box that’s parried clear by an off-balance Saucedo.
78 mins: Rodriguez wriggles past Zardes but his final touch is poor. Mexico still have the ball in the US half looking for space though, and a rash-looking Ibarra tackle earns the visitors a corner. It’s wasted though as the ball is pulled back for another tame shot from distance.
76 mins: USA looking to have stepped up the tempo of their attack in the last few minutes since Agudelo came on. Can they see out the game without conceding any of the late goals that have become the norm over the last year?
74 mins: Mexico almost reply immediately as Montes tries to match Agudelo by cutting in from the right and shooting from distance. His shot curls goalwards but just outside the post with Yarbrough slipping and scrambling.
GOAL! USA 2-0 MEXICO (AGUDELO!)
Dos a cero! USA come forward again and Agudelo drops his shoulder on the left cuts inside, seems to slip, recover, then drives a perfect low shot under Saucedo and into the net from the edge of the box!
Updated
72 mins: Lovely sequence for the USA as Bradley hooks a cross from wide left that Gonzalez heads fast and low to the back post where Zardes is waiting, only for the ball to be headed clear...hang on...
70 mins: Agudelo and Zardes sprint forward in pursuit of a Yedlin ball but it has too much on it for either of them to really have a chance of getting there.
@KidWeil USSF should be indicted for this pitch
— Kyle Brent (@leopoldbloom16) April 16, 2015
It’s not helping the game, to be sure, though both sides doing their best to play on it...
68 mins: That Yedlin/Velarde battle down the flank is one of the entertaining minor stories form this game. Velarde outmuscles the Spurs man now on the edge of the USbox but his touch is too loose for the move to continue. And now Yedlin is back on his line helping out a scrambling Yarbrough as an awkward ball comes in from the right.
Another sub, another debut now as Flores comes out of the game for George Corral.
66 mins: Just to confirm Domiguez, Alanis, Rodriguez are the subs in for Mexico, with Salcedo, Mier, and Maza out. Right now Jordan Morris is being subbed out for Juan Agudelo to big applause from the home fans.
64 mins: Some more intelligent interplay between Yedlin and Diskerud down the Mexico right earns a corner. Bradley lofts it to the top of the box, but Saucedo always had time to get underneath Gonzalez looping header back towards goal.
62 mins: Worry for USA and Real Salt Lake as Beckerman limps off. Didn’t look there was contact before he went down. Luis Rodriguez comes on for Mexico as they switch to a 4-4-2. Beckerman still off being treated. Actually scratch that, he’s being subbed out for D.C. United’s Perry Kitchen in a straight swap.
60 mins: That was a definite chance for Mexico as Gonzalez misses out on his clearance and the ball is slid right to Torres in space inside the box, but his shot is scuffed/deflected and straight to Yarbrough. He claims the ball again a few seconds later on a floated cross from Velarde, but his poor kick out invites more pressure. This time Velarde shoots wide from an unpromising angle.
58 mins: Shea, who’s development as a left back is one of the subplots of the phony war period since the World Cup, kicks an opponent in an able demonstration of the less subtle parts of his job.
Now Morris, Confidence raised, holds up the ball well only for the final flick into the path of Diskerud to not quite come off. Mexico beginning to settle again after the shock of that goal.
56 mins: Montes swings it to the back post and Yarbrough comes for it, half punches and then scrambles back to his goal with the ball only half clear. He gets away with it though, but that wasn’t the most elegant introduction to the game.
54 mins: USA have started this half in emphatic fashion but they’ll lose some momentum now as a player is down. It’s Montes, who gets to his feet, to the relief of Mexico fans who’ve tracked his struggles with injury. Perhaps the pause will let MExico regroup. They look a little stunned right now, but they have a free kick central and some 35 yards out now, after a high tackle from Shea...
GOAL! USA 1-0 MEXICO (MORRIS!)
STUDENTGOL! Bradley spins on the halfway line, prods the ball forwards and Zardes’s attempted flick ricochets perfectly into the path of Morris who’d run in anticipation o the right edge of the D. He steps forward and finishes coolly under Saucedo!
Updated
50 mins: ...Bradley’s free kick is floated to the back of the box where Gonzalez heads down and goalwards and forces a save. Oh hang on...a headline just hoved into view...
48 mins: USA starting this half as lively as any second half we’ve seen them in recently. First Shea steps up down the left to whip an outswinger across the box, then Diskerud gets to the byline and forces Saucedo to dive at his near post to parry the ball clear. And now Zardes has earned a free kick near the corner flag on the right. Bradley over it...
Second half starts
Yedlin scampers forward down the right immediately but an awkward bounce™ means he can’t get a cross in.
More subs: Corona out for Miguela Ibarra, and Brek Shea in for Garza. Ne wleft flank for the USA. In the meantime Richard McGahey emails:
“Omar Gonzalez is best US player this half, steady in the back”
Not sure if he’s suggesting that this is an idea that the excitable creatures at the back have proposed, or he does indeed feel that Gonzalez has been steady (he has), but either way, your thoughts are noted, Richard.
Changes?
Hearing that we’re going to see William Yarbrough in goal for the second half. Second appearance. Against Mexico. On a surface just this side of a car park. Playing under Klinsmann is not for the faint-hearted...
Half-time thoughts: It’s been an even and entertaining game so far, for all that clear chances have been few. Mexico have shown patience and begun to make progress down the flanks, particular down the right, but Gonzalez has been helping organize the USA defense, and Beckerman has been solid screening in front of him.
At the other end Morris has looked unfazed by the occasion and given hints of his speed, while Bradley and Diskerud have combined smartly at times, without finding the final ball to really stretch the Mexico defense.
Interesting to see how much the longer term agendas of both coaches affect the second half now — both need to assess personnel ahead of the summer, yet neither wants to concede any ground in this particular rivalry. Will we finally see a compelling second half performance from the USA?
And in defense of Jürgen Klinsmann’s diplomacy skills, the field seems really bad.
Half-time: USA 0-0 Mexico
Half-time thoughts in a minute
45 mins +1: Torres tussles with Yedlin down the left before nutmegging him — then Gonzalez steps across to boot the ball out and initiate the game’s first heated debate as Torres and he proceed to argue over the pub quiz questions incident. And that will be that for the half.
44 mins: Beckerman inelegantly but effectively hooks the ball off Torres’s foot on the edge of the box for momentary relief, and now, with Mexico committed there’s a chance for a US break. Not for the first time this half though, Bradley’s final touch lets him down in a good position on the edge of the box and the counter chance has gone.
42 mins: USA creaking right now as they try to clear a corner. Mexico just stretching the play before half-time, and Montes tries a shot from distance that has Rimando stepping backwards to try and warily assess the bounce before claiming it. USA looking like they’ll be glad of the whistle right now and Mexico sensing blood.
40 mins: More Mexico possession looking for an opening and Flores sends in a cross from the right that Torres is looking to convert only for Gonzalez to get his head in the way with the recovering block.
...and that was juuuuust wide. Flores touches the ball past a committed Garz and whips a cross to the near post that Herrera flicks just past the post with Rimando scrambling to cover.
38 mins: Esquivel gets his head up some distance from goal and tries to drill a shot on goal but it was always going wide. Players struggling for clean grips with their standing feet in moments like these.
And now a decent chance at the other end as Corona lifts a tempting cross from the left that finds Morris in space. He leaps looking for the header but it’s just over his head.
Updated
36 mins: Bradley tries to spin and play a through ball inside the Mexico half, but it’s cut out and when Zardes tries to keep the move going, he almost plays Garza into trouble via Torre’s interception.
34 mins: Yedlin concedes a corner after initially looking to have got the better of Velarde. Mexico can’t make anything of it though as an awkward bounce on the turf allows Corona to close Montes down as he tries to work the angle for a cross from the short corner.
Not quite end to end right now, but certainly half to half. And rattling by. Still no score.
32 mins: Morris sprints down the left pursued by two Mexican players. He’s angling towards goal but runs out of space and tries to hold up the ball for the players struggling to get up in support of him in his wake. Salcedo dispossess him but that was another encouraging run for the young student.
30 mins: Flores picks the ball up wide right (he’s getting bolder going forward now) and drifts inside before shooting from distance. It’s low and well wide.
At the other end Zardes does well to force Salcedo into a challenge on him as he tries to get his head to a long ball. It was a rough challenge and some US fans dutifully protest, but they were never getting a penalty from that.
28 mins: Esquivel and Flores have been asking questions down the right hand side as they test Garza. They’re at it again now and Beckerman has to step across at the expense of a corner, that Garza, fittingly enough, ultimately gets clear.
26 mins: Definitely a moment of ascendancy for Mexico as they look to put balls together in the US half, though the directness of the US counter is a threat that keeps them from over-committing.
Diskerud steps up down the right. He’s been lively so far. And now he’s been fouled. Free kick wide right. Bradley will float this in...Saucedo comes for it and is crowded out at the back post, earning the foul.
24 mins: Dangerous ball from the right by Flores and the volume in the stadium rises exponentially as the Mexican forwards try to find space for the shot. It’s charged down awkwardly and eventually hoofed to safety by Zardes. Good phase for Mexico right now and after some steady build up play Esquivel loops a shot that floats wide, but not by much.
22 mins: Flores has to step across sharply as Morris tries to burst down the right channel. Now he’s on the run again chasing a through ball from Bradley that always looked beyond him, but forces Saucedo to come out of his goal to clear.
More twitter analysis:
@KidWeil Morris showing savvy beyond his age and yedlin combining well. encouraging performance so far
— Kyle Brent (@leopoldbloom16) April 16, 2015
20 mins: Bradley float s a free kick wide for Omar Gonzalez to head back across goal, but he can’t find a US attacker and Mexico force it clear for now. The pressure’s been mostly from the USA, but Mexico have had a couple of dangerous transitions, and of course we are talking about the first half of this game — let’s see what USA team comes out for the second 45. USA 0-0 Mexico
18 mins: Diskerud and Bradley combine again to forge into the Mexican box, but Salcedo’s anticipation is good to force the ball out for a corner. Torres heads it clear at the near post.
It’s been lively so far. Both teams trying to play, despite the surface.
16 mins: Beckerman finds himself in an unlikely amount of space in Mexico’s final third and decides he may as well have a shot. Though in the event he may as well have not.
Now he makes a sloppy touch in the center circle and Mexico almost have a break on, were it not for the fact that they’re too surprised to take it.
14 mins: Bradley just picked off as he tries to step up on a rapid counter attack. USA had men over for a second.
12 mins: Mexico inching into the game now as they settle. Alvarado has to improvise a clearance under pressure in his own corner and does so well. USA back on the attack for the moment and it ends with Rodriguez going in hard on Morris to welcome him to this rivalry. US throw deep in Mexican territory. Corona and Bradley combine well on the edge of the box, then Diskerud clips a tempting chip behind the defense but too close to Saucedo.
10 mins: Diskerud powers past Velarde and from the byline squeezes an angled low ball back across goal, but it evades every blue shirt and Mexico are able toget it clear without facing a shot.
Mexico find some space down the left now and Yedlin has to recover to block Velarde’s cross. From the throw the ball is worked to Torres on the edge of the box but his attempt at the overhead kick never looked like coming off. And doesn’t. Still 0-0
8 mins: First glimpse of Morris’s speed as he recovers from a foul to push the ball wide and run at pace. He’s chased down, but that’ll give him some confidence.
Yedlin has another run around Velarde down the right, but his last touch is too strong.
Decent first chance for Mexico now as Esquivel digs out a cross for Herrera near the spot, but he can’t get his feet tight and can only scoop a soft shot wide having done the hard work to make space for himself with his first touch.
6 mins: Rimando has to show good feet to get the ball clear under pressure, but stays cool after a back pass leaves him with work to do. Another US attack now, but it founders as Yedlin is penalized as he tries to make progress down the right.
4 mins: Garza bundled awkwardly off the ball and Bradley takes the free kick from deep looking for the run of Zardes, but it’s too long and flies out. Ball already bouncing a little awkwardly at times here, for what it’s worth. We may see a lot of long balls flying through the air.
First sight of Yedlin now, and he and Bradley combine on the right to try and open up space in the box, but Diskerud’s final ball catches Zardes flat footed.
2 mins: USA playing in their new blue kit, Mexico in white. Early free kick for Mexico just inside the center circle, but it drifts all the way through to Rimando. Corona and Bradley do well in close quarters for a moment but are eventually crowded out and Mexico come forward before Esquivel is tackled firmly by Beckerman after showing some nice skill to get turned.
Kick Off
Peep! We’re finally off! Final group huddles and Ricardo Montero blows his whistle to get us started.
Updated
More thoughts on the line up from the sages of Twitter
@KidWeil with Garza at lb, I expect Mexico to have a field day on that flank
— Kyle Brent (@leopoldbloom16) April 16, 2015
Garza’s yet to fully convince, but as long as he doesn’t get any cruel bounces to sap his confid...oh...
Anthems being belted out with gusto right now. Atmosphere is pretty intense as you might expect.
Teams coming out of tunnel
Volume just rose several decibels. Possibly enough to rouse fans across the Atlantic...
And I'll be indulging in @KidWeil on the Guardian. Hope you don't mind a Scotsman with an American mother joining in the action! #DosaCero
— John Stephens (@JohnStephens07) April 16, 2015
Just be careful Klinsmann doesn’t draft you, and airlift you in in the 83rd minute with the team needing a goal (“for the experience...”), John.
Previously on USA vs Mexico
These two met a year ago in a World Cup warm up — a game that was perhaps the key game in cementing Kyle Beckerman’s place in the final World Cup roster.
The women
The US and Mexican men’s teams may be three years away from the next World Cup, but the next edition of the women’s World Cup is imminent up in Canada. The USA have already named their squad, and while it’s not exactly a cut and paste of the Olympic squad, it’s not a million miles away from that. No Klinsmann-esque last minute shocks or experiments for Jill Ellis:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Ashlyn Harris* (Washington Spirit), Alyssa Naeher* (Boston Breakers), Hope Solo*** (Seattle Reign FC)
DEFENDERS (8): Lori Chalupny** (Chicago Red Stars), Whitney Engen* (Western NY Flash), Julie Johnston* (Chicago Red Stars), Meghan Klingenberg* (Houston Dash), Ali Krieger** (Washington Spirit), Kelley O’Hara** (Sky Blue FC), Christie Rampone***** (Sky Blue FC), Becky Sauerbrunn** (FC Kansas City)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Shannon Boxx**** (Chicago Red Stars), Morgan Brian* (Houston Dash), Tobin Heath** (Portland Thorns FC), Lauren Holiday** (FC Kansas City), Carli Lloyd*** (Houston Dash), Heather O’Reilly*** (FC Kansas City), Megan Rapinoe** (Seattle Reign FC)
FORWARDS (5): Sydney Leroux* (Western NY Flash), Alex Morgan** (Portland Thorns FC), Christen Press* (Chicago Red Stars), Amy Rodriguez** (FC Kansas City), Abby Wambach**** (unattached)
* First Women’s World Cup
** Second Women’s World Cup
*** Third Women’s World Cup
**** Fourth Women’s World Cup
***** Fifth Women’s World Cup
Yedlin
Another young player who’s had a speedy ascent is DeAndre Yedlin, who has just made his Spurs debut and starts tonight. And he will be back again in the summer when Tottenham appear as the opposition for the All-Star game in Denver, which was just announced today.
More to the point Harry Kane Harry Kane Harry Kane, he casually search engine optimized.
“The field is really bad”
That’s Klinsmann endearing himself to the ground staff in a pregame interview beside the field. He’s also promising “positive aggressiveness”, which begs the question of whether he was contemplating a game plan of passive aggressiveness, by leaving post-it notes in the opposing dugout reminding Herrera to keep his technical area tidy.
Kick off delayed
Well that’s wonderful news. Over on Fox TV they’re showing an Alexi Lalas “essay” about the US team. Apparently we know it’s an essay because they’ve put echo on his voice. I may apply the same effect..same effect. Or not...or not...
They’ve turned the echo off and stopped the slow motion montage and Lalas is now talking normally about his doubts about the Klinsmann project, which I would possibly have understood better without the dream sequence.
More on Cubo
“Cubo” Torres is the first Mexican player to make his debut for the national team as an MLS player, and several players in the Mexico set up have claimed that his (personal) success with Chivas USA last season singlehandedly altered Herrera’s perspective on MLS as a site for potential players, which in turn has had some players looking North at possible clubs there. That would be an interesting development in a dynamic that’s often been about US players with Mexican heritage finding themselves going South to build their career.
Twitter stirs
@KidWeil @guardian I hope my father and I can someday be on better terms.
— Once A Metro (@Once_A_Metro) April 15, 2015
That’s the spirit/degree of relevance we’ve come to expect here. Though you may want to consider an experimental family line up.
That said, family dynamics all across the continent are being strained tonight...
Love is a motherfucker… ❤️💔🇺🇸🇲🇽#MyLife #Ahuevo #USAvsMEX pic.twitter.com/Xvx6MUsF71
— herculez gomez (@herculezg) April 16, 2015
More on the turf
It’s looking very patchy and rough, and the ground staff are out watering it right up to kick off. Get ready for some entertaining/frustrating lessons in physics as the ball bounces its merry way around the field tonight.
Team news
USA: Rimando; Yedlin, Gonzalez, Alvarado, Garza; Diskerud, Beckerman, Bradley, Corona; Morris, Zardes
Mexico: Saucedo; Salcedo, Maza, Mier; Velarde, Esquivel, Montes, Osuna, Flores; E. Herrera, Torres
So Mexico pretty much as expected, in keeping with Herrera’s habit of releasing the team early, but a big eyebrow raiser looking at the USA team, which is to see Jordan Morris starting up front. The Stanford student has made cameo appearances since the World Cup, but he’s handed a start tonight, along the similarly “emerging” talent of Gyassi Zardes — quite a baptism for the kids.
The field
Turf rolled out over concrete is the none-more-flat solution for tonight’s festivities, with the organizer’s making soothing noises about how well that’s going to work, that appear to have fallen a ways short of convincing everyone else.
The ball does not appear to be bouncing particularly true on the surface, and Herrera has sounded particularly unimpressed when talking about it, while Klinsmann has instructed his players to be more direct compared to his usual attempts to play it out from the back. Given some of the scares they’ve had from Nick Rimando’s distribution of late, that may be no bad thing. But he’s already been told not to expect many backpasses tonight — with animated gif makers everywhere on high alert for wayward bounces.
Owing to a dodgy wifi signal, I too will be watching this game from a vantage point that may be the liveblogger’s equivalent of wrinkled sod on concrete.
Mexico
The preparations for this summer are a little more complex for Miguel Herrera in that he has to put together two separate squads for the Copa America and the Gold Cup in the summer, so this is a young Mexican side which he claims will have less key players in it than the US team.
Among some highlights in the team is the starting forward Cubo Torres — the lone bright spot of the doomed Chivas USA team last year, and soon to be a Houston Dynamo striker, and now trying to stake a claim for a consistent national team spot. And at the back, among the three center backs, Carlos Salcedo is fast emerging as a long term contender to anchor what was looking like a problem spot for the Mexicans. Can he burnish his reputation tonight?
Herrera’s provisional starting line up looks like:
Saucedo; Mier, Rodriguez, Salcedo, Flores, Velarde; Osuna, Montes, Esquivel; E Herrera, Cubo Torres
USA
The hosts first, and it’s a very MLS heavy squad for this game, even without the injured Clint Dempsey and the suspended Jozy Altidore, who talked himself into a red card last time out.
It’s also perhaps the most familiar looking squad in a while, with, for example, the World Cup center back pairing of Matt Besler and Omar Gonzalez back in the roster, and the likes of Kyle Beckerman and Mix Diskerud back in too.
Up front, it’s intriguing to see New England’s Juan Agudelo taking the Brek-Shea-one-time-wunderkind back road in from the cold. After his misadventures in Europe, Agudelo is back with the Revs and as of last week back to his habit of scoring spectacular finishes. Chris Wondolowski meanwhile, may not do spectacular finishes, but he does finish. A lot. Just not that one time...
And at the back, is this the time for Bill Hamid to earn a look. The MLS goalkeeper of the year last year has started strongly again this year, though he may have been hoping Klinsmann had already made his decision about the roster before injury time in the D.C. United vs New York Red Bulls game at the weekend, when Hamid’s spill of a free kick saw his team drop points. But for his exponential improvement in recent months, Hamid has to be pressing the keepers around him.
Goalkeepers: Bill Hamid (D.C.), Nick Rimando (Salt Lake), William Yarbrough (Leon, Mexico)
Defenders: Ventura Alvarado (America, Mexico), Matt Besler (Kansas City), Brad Evans (Seattle), Greg Garza (Tijuana, Mexico), Omar Gonzalez (Los Angeles), Michael Orozco (Puebla, Mexico), Brek Shea (Orlando), DeAndre Yedlin (Tottenham)
Midfielders: Kyle Beckerman (Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Toronto), Joe Corona (Tijuana, Mexico), Mix Diskerud (New York City), Miguel Ibarra (Minnesota), Lee Nguyen (New England)
Forwards: Juan Agudelo (New England), Julian Green (Hamburg, Germany), Jordan Morris (Stanford), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose), Gyasi Zardes (Los Angeles)
Preamble
Because games between these two really need a preamble...
Welcome to USA vs Mexico, or Mexico vs USA, when you consider the trend of Mexico playing their friendlies in the USA to large, lucrative and enthusiastic support. Certainly the crowd in San Antonio for tonight’s game will include a significant if not majority Mexican presence, and it won’t feel like quite as much of a home game for the US as, say, a qualifier in Columbus.
Both teams are beginning to ramp up their preparations for this summer’s Gold Cup, with the USA as defending champions, knowing that a win in that tournament will guarantee them a spot in the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia — a strategic target for Jürgen Klinsmann as he contemplates the 2018 World Cup.
Mexico need to win the Gold Cup to force a playoff with the USA to take that Confederations Cup slot, and might feel that on post-World Cup form they’re on a better trajectory to do so. Certainly they’ve not had the same sort of struggles as the US have had since Brazil, though a closer look at the two teams’ schedules and venues might suggest Mexico haven’t played in as many testing games or stadiums since that tournament.
Still, there’s a definite sense that man-for-man and momentum-wise the advantage is with Mexico coming into tonight, with the USA beset by second half lapses in many of their recent games, and also, arguably, from rather too much emphasis on personnel experimentation from Klinsmann at the expense of team coherence.
We’ll be underway around 8.30pm Eastern Time when everybody’s good and ready, which leaves me plenty of time to move around the exciting interactive graphics I keep on hand at all times, and to pontificate at a desk. I’ll be doing all that and more, I swear. In the meantime, get your tweets coming into @KidWeil or emails to graham.parker@theguardian.com with the subject line, “What’s up with all the Dos a Cero references, Guardian?” and I’ll be sure to use them as filler talking points.
Updated
Graham will be here shortly. In the meantime why not check out Kristan Heneage’s story on US midfielder Miguel Ibarra, who recently made history as the first second-division player in nearly a decade to make the leap to the national team:
[Ibarra] will dress for the US against Mexico on Wednesday, an occasion he is eagerly anticipating. “It’s a big rivalry and it means a lot to me getting called up again for a big game against Mexico,” he said.
As for his relationship with Klinsmann, Ibarra is unequivocally positive. “I love him as a coach,” he enthused. “His personality always gives me confidence and he always has positive stuff to say to me and tells me what I need to improve. His communication is amazing and we get along really well.”
Yet to truly define his position for the national team, opinions are plentiful on where best to deploy him. “I like to play out wide, on the left side and cut in. I’ll play wherever they need me, but for me I like to play out wide,” he said.
Now eager to continue earning minutes with the USMNT, Ibarra also has his intentions for 2015 well mapped out: “My next goal is to keep getting called up and keep being consistent,” he said. “Then trying to get into that starting eleven and hopefully win the Gold Cup.”
His last objective could potentially have been achieved as part of Mexico’s national team, but for a degree of serendipity. A humble and talented player, it falls to his college coach and friend to best encapsulate why Ibarra would be an asset to the Gold Cup roster.
“There’s a saying, you need a lot more piano carriers than piano players,” Kuntz said. “Miguel is a piano player but he also does some of the carrying too.”
