The U.S. men’s National Team was thrashed by Mexico, 3-0, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and it could have been worse.
Although the Americans had the best of play for the first 20 minutes of the game, everything changed when Jesus Corona went right past two U.S. defenders and sent a cross in front of the U.S. goal that was headed in by Javier Hernandez for a 1-0 lead in the 21st minute.
The half ended that way and the goal was actually Mexico’s only shot-on-goal in the half. The second half saw Mexico control possession and mount some promising attacks, but the U.S. offense was simply missing in action.
At 1-0, the game was still in reach, but Mexico picked off a sloppy clearance in front of goal by U.S. keeper Zack Steffen. Erick Gutierrez took a pass and sent a low, left-footed shot that flew past Steffen to ice the game in the 78th minute.
But there were more embarrassments to come. Just four minutes later, a U.S. attack fizzled and Mexico’s counter attack saw Hirving Lozano run past two U.S. defenders and pass to Uriel Antunes who sent a shot from the right of the box diagonally to the left corner of the U.S. goal in the 82nd minute for a 3-0 lead.
The U.S. had a chance to score in the 88th minute as Jordan Morris was hauled down in the box for a penalty. Young striker Josh Sargent, who entered as a sub in the 67th minute, took the shot and sent a line drive to his left. But Mexican keeper Jonathan Orozco guessed correctly and stopped the shot to preserve the shut-out.
A huge crowd of 47,960 mostly Mexican fans turned out to see the match, the 70th all-time between the two countries. There was the usual pushing and shoving at times and each team was called for 17 fouls. Mexico out-shot the U.S. by 10-4 and extended its winning record to 36-19-15 over its northern neighbors.
The U.S. men have one more friendly coming up, on Tuesday vs. Uruguay in St. Louis.
