A superbly taken volley by Paul Aguilar in the 118th minute sank the USA after they battled back to tie El Tri for the second time. In the end, the USA were clearly undone by a more technically proficient and innovative side. Juergen Klinsmann dug deep into his veterans featuring Jermaine Jones, DaMarcus Beasley, Kyle Beckerman, Clint Dempsey, and Jozy Altidore to try and pull out this win.
Tactically, the USA looked to hit Mexico on the counter by sitting deep throughout the match. Except Jones and Beckerman are no speed merchants and they lack the passing quality to be effective. The pace was excruciatingly slow and to make matters worse – disjointed as the side struggled to string five passes together. A classic example was a Mexican attack stalling and with the USA poised promisingly to run at them, Altidore’s scooped pass instead of finding Jones goes awry and out of bound. Such breakdowns were characteristic.
Only set pieces provided some assurance and it was a Michael Bradley swerving free kick which Geoff Cameron locked onto for his header which brought the USA back into the fold. Chicharito’s opening goal came after six US defenders were dragged out by Oribe Peralta. The former United striker was otherwise quite profligate and missed a complete sitter in front of goal after Raul Jimenez’s tantalizing cross cut the defence to ribbons. Regulation ended with the match deadlocked at a goal apiece with the Mexicans dominant with their probing attacks and constant recycling of the ball. The USA had marginally improved by the end of the second half with the promising De Andre Yedlin coming in for the highly ineffective Gyasi Zardes. His speed gave some much needed mobility down the channels.
In extra time, it was the Mexicans who looked most likely to go ahead and it was Brad Guzan making a timely interception after Peralta put through by Chicharito looked ready to pull the trigger. Minutes later, Guzan could only watch as Peralta this time had time and space to put away Paul Aguilar’s cut back after the right back whizzed past Matt Besler. The USA were on the ropes and on what they had produced so far a goal did not look forthcoming. Klinsmann decided to bring on 20 year old Bobby Woods who in his short international career has scored some big time goals. In the 108th minute, against the run of play, Yedlin opened up the defence with a nicely weighted pass and the Union Berlin striker got onto the ball quickest to sweep the ball between goalie Moises Munoz’s legs to spark off some riotous celebrations and frantic fist pumping by a greatly relieved Klinsmann. Then Aguilar’s goal happened.
The margin looks deceptively narrow, there is however, a gulf existing between the two countries in terms of quality. El Tri have had their struggles of late but seem to be on the mend. Now the question remains – how much has the USMNT progressed under Klinsmann?