Live The Pitch

In a crucial World Cup qualifier the USA played Mexico in front of 114,000 screaming Mexican fans.  The U.S. went into the match sitting comfortably in 2nd place in the Concacaf region – but this was a must win for Mexico who entered the match in 4th place.   Bob Bradley’s squad came into the match with an overall record of 0-22-1 all time at El Azteca Stadium.

The game couldn’t have started better for the U.S.  The U.S. found the back of the net when Landon Donovan sent a beautiful pass onto Charlie Davies who used his tremendous pace to blow by the Mexican defense.  Davies found himself 1v1 with Ochoa and calmly slotted the ball into the far post netting.

Mexico would tie the match in the 19th minute when Israel Castro ripped a rocket of a shot that deflected off the crossbar before bouncing in the goal.  Castro found himself wide open 20 yards from goal and punished the U.S. defense who were caught too deep in their own zone.

The remainder of the half saw both teams garner chances but neither finish.  In the opening half the 3 U.S players received yellow cards on the back line.  Oguchi Onyewu, Jay Demerit, and Carlos Bocanegra each booked yellows in the first 45 minutes.  Overall, not a bad half for the U.S. but they sat back too much and were dominated in possession by Mexico.

The second half began much like the opening half ended with Mexico dominating possession.  The U.S. clearly came out of the locker room looking for the draw.  Mexico saw themselves creating chance after chance with the U.S. defense just sitting back in their own third.

Mexico game themselves the lead in the 82nd minute when Sabah found the back of the net off a ricochet that landed right to his feet before blasting it to the upper corner.

This is what happens to teams that sit back and play for draws.  The U.S defense was picked apart once again in the last ten minutes of a big match.

Bob Bradley will take a lot of heat for this performance.  The way his squad came out in the first half was very promising getting the early lead.  Bradley used his same strategy as in the Confederations Cup Final losing to Brazil 3-2 after having a 2-0 lead.  Lets Just sit back and hope we can hold on.  At any level you can not do this for an extended period of time.

Here at Livethepitch.com we try not put down referee crews but this crew clearly let the atmosphere take control of the match.  The center referee called numerous phantom calls against the U.S. throughout the match.  All any soccer fan can ask out of the referee is consistency.  There were plenty of hard tackles from both squads that makes this a hard game to referee but there needs to be more consistency.

We are obviously disappointed with the U.S. performance, but Mexico played very well and deserved the win today. Mexico improves their home record against the U.S to an amazing 23-0-1.

The road to the world cup is heating up and we’re looking forward to the matches ahead.