U.S 2 Mexico 2: Could Be Better, Could Be Worse

As always, it was an entertaining and chippy affair between the two border rivals, a match that wound up in a draw, with both sides feeling that they may have been justified in hoping for a win.


Early on, Mexico were clearly the better team in the first half in terms of actually having an offensive attack that would result in shots on goal, but the U.S. had a good effort on the back, notably from defender Carlos Bocanega and goalie Tim Howard, who put themselves in the correct position to turn back passes inside or to block the actual attempts on goal. I can't say that any of Howard's saves were spectacular, involving extremely quick reflexes, but they certainly showed that he was able to make the play when called upon.



Good news arrived in the 29th minute when Oguchi Onyewu, after throwing the ball in, headed toward the goal and placed a beautiful shot to the far side of the goal beyond the reach of the Mexican goalie Guillermo Ochoa. I do believe that was the first shot on goal by the U.S team up to that point, as to continue the results of the U.S. maximizing their opportunities against their southern neighbours.



Jonny Magallon tied the score a few minutes later by being shockingly open on a corner kick (being a Spurs fan as well, I've grown accustomed to such slackness on set pieces).


However, Jozy Altidore, at 18 making his first start for the U.S. Men's National team, blasted a brilliant header past Ochoa at the 40th minute mark, and after the tentativeness of the opening half to the first half, the sudden wealth of goals was a bit surprising.


This excitement was compounded a couple of minutes later when it at first appeared that Clint Dempsey had quickly made it 3-1, but replays showed that he was indeed offsides when he took the shot.



Just after the half time break, Magallon struck again on a corner kick, leaving Howard with no chance for a save as Mexico once again tied the match, and for the next 25 minutes or so, it seemed that Mexico were repeatedly able to create enough space to get off decent shots on goal, though once again Howard was up to the task in cleanly turning them away.



Very nice to see some congratulatory handshakes after the match for once, both teams certainly gave it their all, though there was a first half dive by Mexico's Rafael Marquez, which negated a scoring opportunity for the U.S., that had me rolling my eyes, as well as a fierce entanglement between Howard and Mexico's Antonio De Nigris. Both players were seemingly antagonizing the other, and De Nigris wound up briefly in a headlock before common sense on both sides prevailed.



The bottom line is that it was just a friendly after all, Mexico has still not won on U.S. soil in the last 10 matches here, and the real final score in a match that truly matters says something like U.S. 2 MEXICO 0.