The U.S. men's national team will take on Mexico on Aug. 10th at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, U.S. Soccer revealed on Friday.
The match-up is a rematch of the 2011 Gold Cup Final, won by Mexico, 4-2, in June.
The "friendly" is the third friendly scheduled by U.S. Soccer since the Gold Cup, with the Americans taking on Costa Rica and Belgium.
The friendly could give us the return to national team action of midfielder Stuart Holden and defender/midfielder Timmy Chandler, who both missed the Gold Cup.Holden's inclusion is probably less likely given the fact he's still recovering from the serious knee injury that has kept him out of U.S. national team action all year.
Mexico has won the past three meetings between the countries, including the past two Gold Cup Finals. The sides haven't met in a friendly since 2008, when the teams tied, 2-2, in Houston.
What do you think of the USA playing Mexico? Excited? Not a fan of the idea? Plan to be there?
Share your thoughts below.
Friends:
I really do not know anything about this game.
It has not been promoted at all in Mexican media, and I watch sports news every night!
Mexico for sure will field a “B” or “C” team for sure, as the domestic champioship has just started.
No Chicharitos, Barreras, Guardados, or the rest in the Gold Cup line up will be there.
Just a money maker in my opinion, although it will still go inside the record books.
Maybe It will be promoted the prior day, or not at all.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!
But they won’t get a real coach. That is the issue. With the USSF it has always been about the money (for themselves), not what is best for US soccer.
@ Ricky u just got it, this what been wanted Bob Bradley to do, is a mixed of new players with just a couple of veterans. I will used some players from the U20 like Wood, Conor, Gyau, Amobi, Agbossoumonde,Lleget, Kitchen Garza etc.with some new Men national Players. Veterans like Donovan, Micheal Bradly, Adu, Holden, Jozy, Edu. New comers like Chandler, Mixx, Licha, Bedoya, Bunbury and Agudelo.. This will be a strong team. anyone who’s age is under 30 or maybe under 27..
After the Gold Cup Tim Chandler said in a July 2011 interview:
“If I am invited, I would love to play for the United States again. I have a very good opinion of Bob Bradley as a coach,” Chandler said.
“It is my goal and dream to represent the United States at the 2014 World Cup. What I said in March is true. I will absolutely not play for Germany. There is no way that will happen.”
The German Football Association has acknowledged Chandler’s decision and has said it will not pursue him.
I am not sure how that refelcts the opinion of the trolls here who are “certain” Chandler will play for Germany because he is so disappointed in the USA and Bradley.
Which of the 100 players Bradley has had on a game day roster in the last year are his favorites and what evidence do you have that any other choice would have been better? It is hard to fault calling in the MLS leading scorer, and Onweyu is a very good player, how do you think trying him out to see if he has fully recoverd is playing favorites. Left back is such a problem, especially since the “best” choice Bocanegra had to be used to shore up the middle, Bornstein at least knows the system (and in the last game he was an emergency sub behind a less experienced player, the other choices are, well less than compelling).
If the US parents cared about soccer brains and skill instead of their kid’s W-L record in meaningless youth games, the US would be much better.
That is silly. No coach anywhere can force strikers to suddenly start scoring goals, nor force defenders to keep up their attention span for the full game or not get turned by clever dribbler.
Now that the clever Klinsmann has helped turn Toronto F.C. from a poor team into an awful team, at least people have stopped calling for him to replace Bradley.
What I hope is that some of the young strikers for the USA start producing and that the young defenders for the USA can concentrate and play well for 90+ minutes.
Longer term, I hope that parents in the USA will stop paying so much attention to their kids’ won-loss records (which only shows which youth team is bigger, more athletic and more brutal in defending) and more attention to the amount of time their kids spend playing soccer on their own and improving their skills
I see little predictive power in how 16 year old soccer players perform against other 16 year-olds. For every Donavon, Beasley, Holden, Bradley who did well at U-17, and continued to improve, there are more who looked like world beaters at 16, then .. For example, Eddie Johnson scored 23 goals in 25 games for the US U-17 team, then did well in a round of WC qualifying but since then has hardly matched his early success.
I would not put too much weight on the U-17 WC, but of course, it doesn’t hurt for Mexico and it does raise the bar in Mexico for all the players who did not quite make the squad this time.
Naturally, given the choice, I would rather have the USA win the U-17 WC than flame out, but neither has that much predictive power.
BB has shown more roster flexibility that virtually ANY other National team coach anywhere. He has had about 100 different players on a game-day roster in the last 13 months. True, not all of those players actually played, but to imagine BB has not been out searching the world for US players who could cut it is just plain wrong. How many of you ever heard of Chandler until Bradley called him in? Which of you thought C. Davies was so hot until Bob capped him and stuck with him through the 2007 Copa America and into his successful Confed Cup. For all the crap people lay on Bornstein, he was the LB in the group stage of hte Confed Cup until Baocanegra returned from injury, he scored the goal that gushed the US into first place in WC qualifying. I happen to think he is more suited to midfield than back because he has too many moments when he loses focus, but he is still a pretty good player. The bile so many her direct at him is uncalled for and simply evil.
If this squad is filled with too many “new” players, it will not be fair to them. It is impossible to fit into a team in a few days when everyone is trying to fit in, there must be a core of players who know what is going on and be the models for the new guys to fit into. That is something Bradley has done quite well; Lichaj, Ream, Chandler, and even Jones benefited from being able to learn what was expected and from having teammates who knew what was going on.
I predict the “friendly” roster will be 90% from the 100 who have been on a game day roster in the last year and 10% others. Anything else would be unreasonable.
+1000
Tim is full of vitriol and &*%^*(%!
What? did BB cut you from a youth team somewhere, or fail to notice your (or your kid’s) outstanding talent and didn’t even select him?
Get a clue in 2009! Itwas tough to watch, but it was not really Mexico’s B team, it clearly was a US B/B- team and that was by design and a result of the Confed Ccup which was a much more important tournament.