The summer friendly that Jurgen Klinsmann has been hinting at for months is official.
The Mexican soccer federation announced that El Tri will host the U.S. men's national team at Estadio Azteca on Aug. 15 in a friendly between the two CONCACAF powerhouses.
The meeting will be the second United States-Mexico match of the Klinsmann era, with last August's 1-1 draw in Philadelphia being his first match after replacing Bob Bradley as national team coach. It will also provide a chance for the U.S. men to notch their first-ever win on Mexican soil, something that has not been accomplished in 24 tries.
Mexico currently owns the bragging rights in the heated rivalry after capturing the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup at the United States' expense, coming from two goals down to win 4-2 and claim a spot in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. The match will be the final U.S. friendly before World Cup qualifying resumes in full force in September, with the United States facing Jamaica in consecutive fixture dates on Sept. 7 and 11, in Kingston, Jamaica, and Columbus, Ohio, respectively.
Are you excited for the friendly? How do you see the U.S. men faring in the match? Will they finally get that elusive win in Mexico?
Share your thoughts below.
Will Stu be back for this one? Would be nice to see him in a US kit again. Regardless if he gets on the field or not.
Dumb why set up a game for a sure loss.
USA 0 Mex 0
However
USA 0 Mexico City smog pollution and altitude 2
Mexican teams dont take the libertadores seriously. I remember chivss making the finales with a u20 squad. Then you have teams like tigres and monterey who send b squads. At least johnny b got somr playing time.
Personally I want to see many fringe players and a few veterans for this game. No need to bring an “A” team like many are calling for. This is the perfect game to bring in some young guys like: Gatt, Adu, Bruin, Wooten, Lichaj, Cameron, John, Corona, Shea, and some firnge players like Zusi and Williams and some veterans like Bradley, Jones, Johnson( he is a vet now), Boca , and Dempsey.
I would like to see Howard left at home for this one and see exactly who are #2 GK really is between Guzan, Hamid, Rimando.
August weather in Mexico City? Advantage Mexico, ie. the flip side of playing them in Columbus?
Looking at the poor preformances in the Copa libertadores year in,year out, there is no justifying Mexico being the 2nd best league in the Americas
(I think thats what you meant).
None.
Chuck, The USA and Mexico are not rivals in anything in the world,so Im not sure how we are “natural” rivals…..shoot, I mean does our world beating womens team have a rivalry with Mexico? NO!
Will this be on PPV? 🙂
j/k
You got it. I think the Brazil win is getting to their heads. This risky friendly decision could be their undoing against the US next year.
I will split the difference here in that I don’t see how this benefits the US other than some revenue for the program.
However, the Mexican league is far from dreadful. It’s probably the second best league top to bottom behind Argentina. (Brazil would be higher if weren’t so disturbingly corrupt).
So even if Mexico is an average footballing nation, we are still ‘playing up’ at this point.
Well, money, for starters is a boost. Then, its our “natural” rival. You don’t see Germans complaining they have to play Holland too much.
Also, we also struggle to have 6 or 7 players playing top football and our league is also dreadful when compared to others!
This: Herc doing his trademark celebration for the last minute 3-2 would be completely priceless
Mexico is an average footballing nation and slowleftarm makes a good point.
Why do we play them all the time? What is the purpose of this?
Mexico struggles to even have 6 or 7 players playing club football in Europe and the domestic league is dreadful.
Mexico is a terrific team, that plays all out until the last second. They’ll probably be near top ten rating come December. The USA should play them at least once a year.
Can’t we play someone else instead of Mexico all the time?
Packed house…in Foxboro? That would be nice. I think KC or Sandy is the place to go though.
Outside bet that US/Mexico will be in Houston. Terrible soccer decision..good financial decision.
It will be sold out in seconds, and about 85% of the crowd will be pro-Mexico.
It is a FIFA date. Only injuries can keep a player out who wants to be there. Doesn’t mean teams won’t pressure players to decline. This would be a massive one to decline though.
My thoughts exactly. What did we give them?the only reason to give your biggest rivals a peek at your terrordome is because you don’t fear them.
Agreed about the wingers..
DMB? Josh Gatt’s first call up? Probably not. Brek Shea? Maybe.. Johnson at LW with lichaj at LB more likely
+1 lets hope he turns it up in league play this summer
Is it a FIFA date? If not, can AZ hold Jozy out?
I would like the USA to play an U-30 side, but it ain’t going to happen.
Recall Freddy Adu to work some more magic against Mexico!
I’m not sure what this gets us at this juncture. It will most likely give Mexico more confidence, that’s for sure. I say call up the fringe players that may be desired for the Jamaica games but aren’t mortal locks. Use it as an assessment game.
As to whether we get the A-Squad, that will depend on if Dempsey, Bradley, Donovan, and the Rangers contingent go elsewhere. If so, they may be just settling into to new squads and Klinsman may not call them up. We’ll see.
I hope Klinsy can get Timmy Chandler back into the team. Like Chandler or not, he makes us better.
Also, Fabian Johnson needs to run free at LW. He brings so much to the offense. Lichaj is a bull terrier at LB and is actually better defensively than Fabian.
I’d also love to see Herculez score there!
Vamos Estados Unidos!
Considering the way we’ve played reciently (lack of intensity, lethargic, etc…) This really needs to be the Full “A” squad with maybe a fringe player or 2 thrown in for experience. Hoping to see at least Lichaj called up to replace Parkhurst OR Castillo as neither impress me…And maybe Williams as a replacement for Beckerman or Torres. Only other thing I’d like to see is the inclusion of a true winger or 2…we’ve been playing much too narrow reciently.
You’re Jack”nuts” — whonk whonk —
This is Mexico, not Scotland. While I like where you’re coming from, I think the time for experimentation is other friendlies that don’t involve so much pride & hostility.
You go for the throat in this meeting. Mexico will be doing the same.
Personally, I think we need to call up a bunch of kids (U-25, and other newbies like Cameron), have Klinsi make some profoundly offensive comment like “We intend to come in all fast and furious”, and then leak the travel schedule.
This way, we get the next generation ready for the trip to Azteca that matters – next year.
Calling in Donovan, Bradley, Dempsey, etc. will be nice for the scoresheet, but we don’t get the benefits of exposing MLS players to a real pressure sitatuion.
(And I may be kidding about all this. To be honest, I’m not really sure)
It’ll just be a friendly, so while a win would be great, getting the guys a chance to experience the place the year before a likely Qualifier could really help.
Increible! This will be a great experience for the players who haven’t played in a Azteca WCQ as it will lessen the shock when they hopefully play there next year. I’m surprised Mexico would ever approve of a friendly against the US at Azteca.
im hoping that Mexico @ USA is in February or March and is in either Foxboro or Seattle, somewhere with a packed house and terrible cold weather. dos a cero!!!
Awesome!!! time to get J.Jones, Johnson, Lichaj, Klinsy and others ready!
How great would it be for Herc Gomez to score here!
and a lot of it!
It’s a FIFA friendly date so I don’t see any reason that we wouldn’t field an “A” team.
This will be 100% our A-Team…no learning crap here. The only reason we won’t have all of the euro boys will be that their club’s may ask JK to leave them off at the start of the season, this could cause a few Mex players to not appear as well.
It’s a friendly. No points are at stake.
….”only” national pride and extensive bragging rights =P
Mexico seems to play most of their friendlies in the United States these days, but it’s always exciting to play at Azteca. Plus there is less downside at Azteca because no one expects the U.S. to win there. Abajo Mexico!
it’s an official FIFA date, so we’ll have everyone.
Awesome test!
Touche.
Although, I think Seattle/Portland, Sandy Utah (maybe KC) and of course, Columbus, we’d still have an advantage
thank god it isn’t in the US. this will be a great test!
There is no reason to play this match w/o our A Team. JK said he wanted to play the best on their soil like Itally, France, Solvenia, Belguim….so here we go again. He wants to make a staement to the world that on our day we can compete/beat with anyone. He’s been saying this from day one…we only improve by stretching ourselves…this is a big stretch. Vamos USA!
Agreed. The game is going to be dirty and stupid intense. Somebody is gonna be bloody after this one.
Does August 15 being an international friendly match day on the FIFA calendar mean we can insist on callups, or is that only for official qualifiers?
Does this make a ton of sense where it sits relative to the European league calendars, ie, can I get enough foundational European-based to justify the game?
Doesn’t matter where we play them they always have home-field advantage.
Also if the team has several Mexican Americans and they do well, I’m sure the Mexican media will have alot to say about it.
I’m assuming the Mexican based Americans will be called. I wonder how many of our European based players if any will be called.
new players and coaches need to get aquainted with the place so we know what to expect during the hex.
Sadly i dont think were goingto get any points from mexico this cycle they are definitly clicking and their coach isnt a doofus.
I think Mexico have been in ideal form but you can throw all of that out the window when these two nations play.
I sincerely hope Jermaine Jones and Michael Bradley bring the attitude. Soccer Mom’s needn’t show up for this game. Mexico and it’s fan’s will be nasty, we need to meet that intensity in kind.
Hopefully Deuce is in form and Donovan isn’t as comatose.
Yes – OK – No