NEWSLETTER
The United States and Mexico renewed hostilities on the soccer field Wednesday night. Once again Mexico failed to beat the USMNT. Jesus Ferreira scored in the 81st minute to give an uninspiring US squad a 1-1 draw against their arch-rivals.
The USMNT extends its unbeaten streak against Mexico to five games. The United States has beaten Mexico three times and drawn twice in that span. Mexico’s last win over the United States came in September 2019.
This isn’t an international window so European clubs are under no obligation to release their players. Sergino Dest and Alan Sonora are the only members of the squad who don’t play in Major League Soccer. Sonora plays for Juarez in Liga MX. Dest is out of favor at AC Milan. He was released for this game despite his club playing in the Champions League Quarterfinals.
Poor Results Mounting For Mexico
It’s an embarrassing result for El Tri. Pressure is already mounting on coach Diego Cocca who took over in February. The Mexico job is a pressure cooker and the results thus far are underwhelming.
Mexico did beat Suriname 2-0 in the CONCACAF Nations League, but they were held scoreless through 60 minutes against a team they’re much more talented than. El Tri followed that up with a 2-2 draw against Jamaica.
Mexico opened the scoring in the 55th minute against the USMNT in Glendale through Cruz Azul winger Uriel Antuna, but they couldn’t protect the lead. In the 81st minute, Jordan Morris found Ferreira who put the ball in the back of the net to tie the game. It was the USMNT’s only shot on goal in the game.
With most of the USMNT’s biggest stars unavailable for the game, a draw against Mexico is a good result even if the performance wasn’t great. It seems unlikely anybody did a lot to sway the coaching staff into more playing time when the US has its full roster together.
It’s another disaster for Mexico and if they don’t improve their performance against the USMNT in the Nations League this summer, Cocca might not make it six months on the job.
