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USA vs. Mexico: Running Commentary

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.

Comments

  1. gsh:

    I don’t think this is really one of those situations where it’s a matter of opinion and we should just agree to disagree. Your still painting a picture that is not true. Are you going by memory from watching the game? I didn’t need to, but I watched it several times on tape to see if I could see anything like your describing. I did not.

    Again, the ball was a perfectly directed, well hit ball that curled right across the six yard line (not in the box yet) over the heads of four guys jumping together to try and get a head to it. It also was not low until it fell to volley level. It seems pretty absurd to suggest Howard should have come crashing off his line into 4 or 5 guys who already were jumping in a group and had established position on the ball first, to try and grab a ball that was curling wickedly away from him. If he had been foolish enough to try that he probably would have been called for a penalty, or more likely, missed the ball and then it would have been kicked into an empty net. Then it really would have been his fault.

    I thought this was crystal clear, but if someone else has a different take on it, I would like to hear it. However, judging from the posts, there is an overwhelming majority who did not blame Howard for that goal. A lot of people were saying he was man of the match. I probably have an unfair advantage, though, if you don’t have it on tape. I started taping most games because it’s amazing how different something can be in reality compared with what your eyes were looking at just once at high speed. (Even with a replay.)

    Reply
  2. aristotle-

    Nope, not kidding, we’ll have to agree disagree though. Should he have saved it? Maybe, maybe not, but I think a ball when volleyed at such a low height in the 6 yard box should have be gobbled up by the keeper.

    Was he gunshy after clearing out Boca, not sure. But after that play Howard wonderfuly came out to punch a ball much further out a few minutes later. Still think he had a good game, I just want keepers to go get that ball and defenders have a hard time making a play on those balls.

    Reply
  3. I’m happy for Jozy in getting the goal. Nice piece of work.

    On the whole, I don’t think the US did all that well. We were lucky that Mexico couldn’t finish their chances. That second half was insane. Did we have any shots on goal in the second half? All I saw was defending. Some offense would have been nice.

    We may beat or tie CONCACAF teams, but if we play like this against better teams, we’ll get torched!

    Reply
  4. gsh:

    You have got to be kidding!

    First of all, the ball did not drop, it was hit on the volley. Second, it was a wicked curling free kick that curved perfectly along the six yard line with at least five players all jumping for it and coming close. Drew Moor fell down and was holding onto Magallon’s shorts when he volleyed it into the roof of the net. Superman could not have saved that goal!

    Reply
  5. BK:

    Frank Simek hasn’t played for Sheffield Wednesday since a December 15, 2007 injury. I think DeMerit may be injured to because he missed Watford’s last match and was not even on the bench.

    Reply
  6. I don’t want to try to defend Moor on this one, but as much as Howard played a very good game, I think he’s partially responsible on the first goal. You can’t tell me that an EPL quality keeper should let a ball drop with in his 6 yard box and not get some heat for that.

    And i would really have liked to see clark pulled at half and had adu play with bradley in the middle. That would have been a very interesting midfield. Would have had a nice combination of grit and flair. (and would have gotten the useless clark off the feild)

    Reply
  7. @Posted by: TK | February 07, 2008 at 08:56 AM

    you sound like every El Tri fan the last 15 years with every generation of player coming up.
    Mexico is talented, but you are WAY overestimating them. The Stuttgart duo were bit players for Stuttgart. Hildebrand was the glue and Gomez is the hammer. They lost Timo and Gomez has had injury troubles and look where they are at now.
    Gio has played 16 games for Barca out of need not him winning a spot. Tonight he managed to win a free kick in a dangerous position against a left back who had no business being on the pitch. Superstar? OK.
    Let’s not sound like the uneducated US fans who took the top 10 ranking seriously and every El Tri supporter, well, ever, when talking about El Tri.

    I second the Simek calls. He is composed and plays well. I am pretty sure he’s injured or just coming off injury though.

    Reply
  8. I forgot all about Simek. Why hasn’t he been called in again? I thought he played alright when he played before AND he’s playing in a decent league. Seems odd that he’d reach for Moor and Corrales before he’d bring back Simek. Not to mention the fact that DeMerit hasn’t been called in a while.

    Reply
  9. Mexico can kiss my shiny metal a$$!
    (Just to clarify, I don’t like them.)

    July Foudy should go do the women’s league that she thought was going to be so superior to the MLS.

    John Harkes should go with her.

    The Mexico attack on the mighty U.S. defense reminded me of a shark feeding frenzy. Every shark had at least a little bit of Drew Moor and Ramiro Corrales in it’s mouth.

    The goal that seemed like it was no where near offside, but then supposedly was shown to be offside at half time, was still not offside.

    I looked at it on tape and it certainly isn’t the outrage it originally appeared to be, but it still was not offside. They showed a very quick half ass look at it at half time that made it seem like it might be offside. The problem is that they show it to you too quickly and they set the freeze frame too soon before he actually kicks the ball. The Mexican player moves up just a little bit before Onyewu actually makes contact with the ball. Then to make matters worse, Dempsey is leaning forward like a sprinter at the finish line, while the Mexican player is looking back towards the pass and is not leaning forward at all. I guess it’s not too controversial because the referees/linesmen seem to do this all of the time, but he is judging Dempsey in an offside position because part of his upper body is slightly in front of the Mexican player. However, their feet are in the same place. You can tell by the dark and light blocks the field was divided up into. Since there is no separation, there should be no offside. If set up properly the white line they drew across the field would have cut through Dempsey and the Mexican player.

    There you have it. My long winded and convoluted analysis of the offside call! The tape does not lie! (Unless you draw the line too soon before the ball is kicked!)

    Reply
  10. Again. Folks. This is a new genration of US players with limited leadership. The guys who could have been aren’t there – Gibbs, Mastro, Mathis, JOB. The all crapped out. Bit of a vacuum there for us.

    Second. Time to wake up here. Do not be in denial like Mexico has been for th elast decade. There is top class proven talent all across the board for Mexico.

    Their midfield duo started for the B’liga champs and were a big part of their success – Stuttgart.
    A PSV starter. One Barca starter and regular contributor who is only 20.
    A kid who is going to be playing for the Arsenal maching soon.

    Others who have taken their teams far in the Copa Lib and others who play on decent Euro teams.

    Their is serious, serious, serious, experienced talent on that team.

    The will be challenging the wrold’s best this next cycle. They are that good.

    We have a lot of young promise but it still maybe a few years off overall, with regards to experience an dregular playing time.

    We have to understand it.

    Reply
  11. Some thoughts on the game
    -Uni’s looked good, better than I thought they would
    -Altidore is good, and will be awesome to watch him grow, liked his exchange post game had Marquez laughing
    -Benny looked much more comfortable than Bradley or Clark to me. I’m amazed he doesn’t get more time.
    -Bradley had a tough game. Or he was fine and I was expecting Cesc based off of his Holland play.
    -Convey, Corrales, and Moor looked rough. Moor at least had his pass to Jozy.
    -I dont get all the Donovan hate. Is he great? No, but I thought he played fine last night.
    -Vela impressed me, hadn’t seen him yet.

    Reply
  12. Perfect summary Ives, you hit all the right points. Moor was pathetic and Corelles was pretty bad too. I also was not impressed by Convey, I have been a fan of him and was hoping to see him back to his old self, but he didn’t seem to be on at all. Altidore was great and Donovan needs to stay on the right wing, he fits well there making his runs. Bradley was sick, but Clark played great as well reminding me that he’s still in the mix.

    Reply
  13. I agree Moor and Corrales did not play very well in the back. What happened to Donovan was he staying back more often to cover up for them? I just think that combo was not a good one for this game and seemed like they were beaten all the time and also that they committed careless mistakes.

    I was happy to see Altidore and Oneywu score. Oneywu showed great hustle getting back into that play to score.

    Reply

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