Key events
48 min: Ream wins a header to stop a promising Mexican attack. It still looks too easy for Mexico to make incisive passes, while the USA have had … one? Maybe?
47 min: The USA start by stringing a few passes together, which is an improvement.
Second half is underway … and it’s still hazy.
Kurt Perleberg asks how far a full-strength US team can go in the World Cup next year.
I’ll say Seattle.
Stat time
Concacaf has some intriguing stats, including the aforementioned “touchmap” that was, until now, more or less devoid of US touches in the Mexican penalty area.
The Jimenez goal was graded at 0.149 “expected goals.” I’d have expected more. Freeman’s shot was actually higher – 0.152.
Mexico has a 5-0 edge in corner kicks, a 10-2 advantage in interceptions, and 298 passes to the USA’s 162. They completed 85.9% of their passing attempts; the USA clocked in at 76.5%.
The USA have an edge in something they probably don’t want – clearances (27-7).
Good news – the foul count has slowed. Just six a side at halftime, though the referee made several correct advantage calls and several possibly incorrect no-calls.
Halftime: USA 1-1 Mexico
Mexico have dominated, and yet the USA should consider themselves unlucky not to be up 2-1 right now.
45 min +1: A minute ago, the US had exactly one touch on the ball in the Mexican penalty area. They nearly made it two goals on two touches, as the onrushing Freeman heads the ball straight into the face of the fortunate Malagon. The ball stays in the area, and the USA have a couple of potential shouts for a penalty, though they don’t make a big deal of it. It ends up with Luna blasting the ball high.
44 min: YELLOW to Montes for banging into Agyemang as the US forward was about to get past the defender. It’s not a red card because Agyebang was too far to the side for it to be a “last man” situation (or “DOGSO” in ref speak).
43 min: Winston Smith takes me to task for neglecting to mention Jimenez’s tribute to Diogo Jota after his goal. The soccer world is a small one in many ways, and Diogo Jota clearly touched so many people. Jimenez played with him at Wolves.
42 min: Another corner, and two Mexican players are giving Berhalter a noogie. Not sure why our referee is allowing it to continue.
40 min: Mora shoots from 22 yards, and Freese probably should’ve held that ball rather than palming it wide and conceding a corner.
39 min: Berhalter has dropped to right back, with Freeman pushing forward. It’s working in the sense that the USA still have possession, but it’s not going anywhere.
37 min: The USA have the ball! They have the ball! It’s Tillman and Agyemang … make it just Tillman, because Agyemang has run 3-4 yards offside and doesn’t seem to have noticed.
But the ball is recycled back, and at last, the USA have possession.
36 min: Scott Martin writes: “If I were a player, in a sport that prioritizes cardiovascular and pulmonary health, I would not be happy to spend the entire first half breathing in whatever’s in the smoke unvented pyrotechnics leave behind.”
It’s certainly something Concacaf and US Soccer should address, but I wouldn’t hold my breath, so to speak.
35 min: I believe we could describe the US defensive tactics as “zonal,” mostly because no one is actually marking anyone.
Opportunistic shot from Alvarado, and Freese makes it look like a more difficult save than it should be.
32 min: The USA ramp up the pressure on Mexico in their own half, but the passing is so sharp.
I knew a youth soccer coach in the USA who insisted that 9-year-olds were too young to learn passing. I’m guessing there aren’t many coaches like that in Mexico.
31 min: James Dungan writes to say Ream hasn’t been a finals-quality defender for a long time. Perhaps, but that was a team letdown – as have the last 27 minutes.
30 min: As sunshine finally makes its way through the roof in Houston, the crowd chant “ole” with every Mexican pass. Aside from the early goal, this has been dominance for the “visiting” team with the “home” crowd.
Gooooooalll! USA 1-1 Mexico (Jimenez 27)
As I was saying …
It’s a good through ball from Ruiz to Jimenez, and the Mexican attacker unleashes the shot before Ream can get there. It’s drilled into the upper back corner past a frozen Freese.
Fox reminds us that Jimenez and Ream were teammates at Fulham.
26 min: Arfsten rises to head clear a menacing Mexican cross. Like the pregame show, the US defense is playing with fire here.
24 min: A dazzling sequence of quick passes for Mexico, and the young right back Alex Freeman has to slam the door and concede a corner.
Mexico keep possession, and Mora launches a shot from 25 yards that Freese has to scramble to smother. Mexico’s total xG is now up to 0.07.
23 min: At last, the first dangerous moment for the USA since the goal, a cross the eludes Agyemang and Tillman but at least puts Mexico under some pressure.
Mexico head the other way, and Luna is whistled for a soft foul/hard dive.
21 min: It’s still hazy in the stadium. As I type, Justin Kavanagh sends me email with the subject “Smokin’ Game”: “It’s been a foul-riddled game being played in a foul atmosphere so far. The smoke of the pre-game pyrotechnics can’t clear because of the closed roof of this stadium in Houston. This reminds me of European games seen through a fog of the crowds cigarette smoke back in the 1970s and 80s.”
And beyond. When I covered the Women’s World Cup in 2011, German journalists were stunned that they couldn’t smoke in the press tribune.
19 min: I have no memory of the USA bringing the ball into the Mexican penalty area. The goal came off a free kick that found Richards’ head in the area, but there has been no possession there.
We have a plea for a penalty from Mexico, but it was closer to a dive than a foul.
16 min: Mauricio Pochettino is livid on the sideline, probably flirting with a yellow card, as another foul goes uncalled.
In the mid-1990s, the USISL experimented with a rule in which the seventh team foul would result in a “shootout” opportunity in which an attacking player could start with the ball 35 yards from goal and go one on one against the keeper. Gimmicky, but the intentions were good.
15 min: That could’ve been disastrous for the USA, as a cross deflects, but Freese has time to reset his feet and collect cleanly.
That’ll give the USA a chance to break the pressure.
Mexico responds with … a foul.
13 min: Shot on goal for Mexico, but it’s a tame one. The xG on that should be about 0.001. They say 0.04. I don’t get it.
12 min: Mexico take some time to build patiently.
Concacaf is tracking xG (expected goals). The USA lead 0.04-0.00. Not sure why Richards’ shot would only merit 0.04, though there’s an argument that the pass never should’ve gotten through.
Now we have fouls each way going uncalled.
11 min: Sustained possession for the USA. More surprisingly, we’ve gone three minutes without a foul.
9 min: Credit to our referee for trying to put a stop to the nonsense early in the game.
Mexico, meanwhile, have stepped up the urgency since conceding. They didn’t really start passively by any stretch of the imagination, but they’re aggressively seeking a way through the stacked US midfield and defense.
6 min: Now two fouls each way. At this pace, that would be more than 30 fouls per team.
And another, as Vasquez bear-hugs Agyemang from behind at midfield and wrestles him down.
Goooooaaaalll! USA 1-0 Mexico (Richards 4)
Well now. That looked too easy.
Berhalter floats the free kick into the penalty area, and Richards ducks to get his head on the ball. It clangs off the underside of the bar, and in shades of the 1966 World Cup, there’s some debate over whether the whole ball crossed the line.
Oddly, there’s no goal-line technology here. Will we have a review? We will not. It stands.
4 min: More fouls, and the USA will have a free kick from about 45 yards out.
Joe Pearson asks if the roof is closed given the heat in Houston. It is indeed.
1 min: The US go direct right from the kickoff. Mexico takes it the other way but Jimenez bundles over Berhalter to give it right back. Agyemang answers at the other end, fouling Montes.
So … end to end action. Of sorts.
Kickoff: The smoke has not cleared from the pregame. Cough.
Judging by the volume of singing of the Mexican national anthem, it would appear that Mexican fans are in the majority here.
We’re getting a stock recording of the US national anthem, which means it’s moving far more briskly than the typical melismatic ordeal that live singers enjoy.
The pregame entertainment is a bit like the dancing fountains at Bellagio, but with fire.
Now both teams are taking the field as the Guns and Roses classic Welcome to the Jungle plays. I think it’s an improvement over the Champions League theme, but tastes may differ.
Before the game … the supporters’ costume contest.
First up, from the USA …
And from Mexico …
USA-Mexico Gold Cup history
Finals involving the two giants of Concacaf …
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1993: Mexico 4-0 in Mexico City.
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1998: Mexico 1-0 in Los Angeles.
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2007: USA 2-1 in Chicago.
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2009: One of the darker days for the US team – Mexico 5-0 in Chicago.
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2011: Also a dark day for the US, which led 2-0 before Mexico rallied. Mexico 4-2 in Pasadena (Rose Bowl).
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2019: Mexico 1-0 in Chicago.
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2021: USA 1-0 in Las Vegas.
The USA also won the 2024 Concacaf Nations League final in The Giant Jerry Jones Cowboys Stadium outside Dallas. So they’re 1-0 against Mexico in Concacaf finals in Texas.
Lineups
USA will have no changes from the starting XI that beat Guatemala in the semifinals: Freese; Arfsten, Ream, Richards, Freeman; de la Torre, Adams; Luna, Tillman, Berhalter; Agyemang
Mexico: Malagon; Gallardo, Vasquez, Montes, Sanchez; Ruiz, Alvarez, Mora; Vega, Jimenez, Alvarado. Gallardo returns from a suspension that caused him to miss the semifinal.
The venue is the massive NRG Stadium in Houston, and it’s sold out. We’ll see the composition of that crowd at kickoff.
The referee is Mario Escobar of Guatemala. He also had the whistle for the 2019 final between these same teams, which Mexico won 1-0.
Preamble
Welcome to one of the great rivalries in sports.
We’ll forget all the people who are not here at this point. We’ll forget about the fact that this final is the conclusion of a “regional championship” that included Saudi Arabia. Someone’s going to get a trophy here. And a lot of players will be trying to make their mark in a meaningful game, hoping for a good impression that will last until the World Cup rosters are made next year.
Comments are welcome and encouraged as always.
Beau will be here shortly.
Until then, read up on The US’s path to the final with Leander Schaerlaeckens:
