The US Men's National Team sealed valuable road point in a tie with Mexico at the Estadio Azteca last Sunday night. Michael Bradley's early shocker put the visitors ahead minutes into the match, but Carlos Vela equalizer eventually helped Mexico settled for a 1-1 draw at home. The stalemate gives United States eight-point through six matches, level on points with Costa Rica for the second spot. Meanwhile, El Tri stays atop the Hex standings with fourteen points despite the disappointing draw result at home.
Bradley fired home the lead for US
United States got off to a fine start through Michael Bradley's early minute stunner.
After stripping the ball from the midfield, Michael Bradley skilfully split El Tri's central backline before placing home the ball into the net to give United States an astounding 1-0 lead. Minutes later, Mexico apparently came back into the game as they pulled one back to level up the scoreline. “Spurred” on by a Javier Hernandez witty move through the center midfield, the Mexicans drove end-to-end leaving the USMNT scrambling. Eventually, the ball came right in front of Carlos Vela, who wasted no time to clinically placed home the equalizer for the hosts.
It was a lopsided encounter
Arguably, It was an encounter which saw Mexico gaining more of the possessions, while the United States constantly “pinned” back.
However, the hosts apparently struggled much to set up goal threat chances throughout the ninety minutes. Bruce Arena's five at the back formation actually paid off for the US, as they massively absorbed Mexico's offensive counters during the last minutes. As expected, the first-half was ravaged by its physical nature. Hard tackles were the norm throughout the opening forty-five minutes with the stretcher coming twice in rapid succession onto the field, although, the physical play continued in the second-half slightly toned-down.
USMNT created more chances than El Tri
An Omar Gonzalez early attempt in the second half was among the closest chances for the USMNT, while Hector Herrera's seventy-second-minute free-kick effort was Mexico only true goal threat. Just seconds into the stoppage time, Dortmund's midfielder Christian Pulisic attempted one final chance for the US, but the ball went wide as the visitors fervently held on to a draw at the Estadio Azteca.
US upcoming matches
With this round of World Cup qualifiers now over, United States returns to friendly action versus Ghana on Saturday 1 July ahead of this summer's CONCACAF Gold Cup. As for the next World Cup qualifying match, the USMNT looks ahead to return to home action against Costa Rica on September 1.
