Good evening folks. I’m coming to you from Reliant Stadium where we are little more than an hour away from kickoff of the USA-Mexico friendly. You will be able to follow along with the match here. I will do a running commentary and will encourage all SBI readers to share their thoughts on the game in the comments section. This is going to be a exciting game.
Enjoy the match and follow along after the jump
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That’s all for tonight. I’ll be heading down to the interviews and will try to post something later on. Thank you for following the match and check back in tomorrow (or late tonight) for some post-match reactions.
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What we learned tonight:
- Altidore is officially ready to be penciled in as a starting forward for the United States.
- Ramiro Corrales is NOT an international level left back.
- Drew Moor is NOT an international level right back.
- Tim Howard isn’t giving up the No. 1 shirt any time soon.
- Bocanegra and Onyewu are THE best center back tandem the Americans have. PERIOD.
- Giovani Dos Santos is going to cause major problems for the USA in the future (I know, Duh)
- Freddy Adu is a good second-half sub, but not ready to be a starter.
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FINAL- USA 2, Mexico 2. A fair result as neither team took over the match.
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90th minute– Edu fouls Dos Santos, who has looked good the past few minutes. He’s so deceptively quick.
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89th minute- Corrales fouls Dos Santos on the left edge and Mexico have a great chance here.
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84th minute– A 2-2 result would be a fair one tonight. Mexico had more stretches of good soccer but the Americans finished their chances tonight. The game has gone flat and I’m not sure there’s another goal here.
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79th minute– Maurice Edu in for Ricardo Clark.
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78th minute– Bocanegra has been solid tonight.
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74th minute– Not a bad match from Ricardo Clark today. Nothing spectacular, but steady.
And Freddy Adu to take a corner.
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72nd minute– Antonio Naelson came in for Adolfo Bautista and Dos Santos came in for Carlos Vela.
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71st minute– And Dos Santos is about to come into the match.
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70th minute– Another Mexico free kick after an Onyewu foul. Convey is out and Lewis is in. Convey was invisible tonight.
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68th minute– Mexico makes a sub but it isn’t Dos Santos.
Eddie Lewis is ready to come in.
Attendance tonight is 70,103. A sellout.
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66th minute– I wonder when we’ll see Giovani Dos Santos.
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65th minute- Marquez and Altidore have had a nice battle today. It’s easy to forget that he’s only 18.
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62nd minute- Bradley had an up and down game, he made some good plays and also turned the ball over in bad spots. Dempsey didn’t have a big impact aside from that great goal that was waived off.
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61st minute– Feilhaber and Adu in for Bradley and Dempsey.
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59th minute– It looks as if Antonio Denigris is playing the villain role for Mexico, between his dust-up with Tim Howard and his yapping with Oguchi Onyewu.
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58th minute– The U.S. team looks a bit lost and I’m trying to decide who has had a worse game, Drew Moor or Ramiro Corrales.
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56th minute- Things are getting REAL ugly, with DeNigris and Howard getting mixed up and Torrado wiping out Convey with an ugly challenge. This is the rivalry we know and love.
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47th minute- GOAL MEXICO. Drew Moor gets beaten again. Magallon scores his second of the match in identical fashion, ghosting into the back post. the U.S. team’s defending on set pieces has been horrific.
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HALFTIME– USA 2, Mexico 1. Altidore’s header was a thing of beauty and after a stagnant first 30 minutes the Americans look confident.
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44th minute– It didn’t count, but that Dempsey finish was clinical and you have to wonder if Mexico’s defense is feeling the pressure right now.
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42nd minute– Dempsey has a goal disallowed for offside. What an amazing finish. Still waiting on a replay. Apparently, the offside was called well before Dempsey shot.
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40th minute- GOAL USA- JOZY ALTIDORE. A beautiful header to finish off a perfect cross from Drew Moor. The future is now people.
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38th minute– Salcido with a yellow after an ugly foul on Donovan.
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36th minute– GOAL MEXICO. Jonny Magallon buries a Pavel Pardo free kick, beating Drew Moor to tie the score.
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34th minute– Ramiro Corrales is struggling big time tonight. Mexico gets another dangerous free kick.
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31st minute– GOAL USA. Oguchi Onyewu with a skying header off a Donovan pass. USA 1, Mexico 0.
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24th minute– Mexico is pouring it on but, as in so many of the past matches against the United States, they just can’t finish.
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22nd minute– Carlos Bocanegra looks okay after an ugly collision with Tim Howard.
Mexico has enjoyed the better stretches of possession and Salcido just dribbled past Michael Bradley.
Tim Howard with two saves in two minutes.
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13th minute– No good chances yet and we’re still waiting for Altidore or Donovan to make a mark.
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9th minute– Michael Bradley is all over the field for the U.S.
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5th minute– Mexico has the early possession and Adolfo Bautista looks like he’s going to be a handful tonight.
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1st minute– And we’re under way.
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8:24pm– The U.S. uniforms make the team look like England from way up here atop Reliant Stadium
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8:22pm- The anthems are over and the U.S. anthem had a good voice behind it. Jozy Altidore looks totally relaxed and Oguchi Onyewu looks like he’s ready to step into the Octagon and destroy somebody.
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8:19pm– The US team is wearing warm up tops in order to not show the new uniforms yet.
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8:18pm– The FIFA music is playing, which means the teams are taking the field.
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8:07pm– Jozy Altidore in the starting lineup has to have U.S. fans buzzing. He looked very good against Sweden and his size and speed combination is going to create problems for the Mexican central defense of Rafael Marquez and Jonny Magallon.
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7:49pm- An interesting tidbit regarding Jonathan Spector. USSF president Sunil Gulati revealed that US Soccer reached an agreement with West Ham to not call up Spector for tonight’s match in order to call Spector up for U.S. Under-23 Olympic Qualifying in March. The agreement was made before Steve Cherundolo’s injury for Hamburg, which explains how the squad wound up with just one legit right back on the roster.
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7:30pm (central time)- The teams have taken the field for warmups and the crowd roar just sent a chill up the spine. The place isn’t even half full yet but you can already feel the excitement.