Depleted USMNT loses to Mexico for first time since 2019
By CARLOS RODRIGUEZ AP Sports Writer
GUADALAJARA, Mexico — Raúl Jiménez scored on a 22nd-minute free kick and set up César Huerta’s goal in the 49th as Mexico stopped a seven-game winless streak against the United States with a 2-0 victory on Tuesday night in Mauricio Pochettino’s second game as the American coach.
Mexico had five losses and two draws against the U.S. dating to a 3-0 win in September 2019 at East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Playing without Christian Pulisic and nearly a dozen of their regulars (including Weston McKennie, Timothy Weah, Folarin Balogun, Gio Reyna, Sergiño Dest, Ricardo Pepi and Tyler Adams), the U.S. failed to record any first-half shots for the first time since an April 2023 exhibition against El Tri. The Americans were outshot 17-5 overall and 5-1 in shots on target. With Pulisic in the fold, they defeated Panama, 2-0, on Saturday in Austin, Texas.
“Overall Mexico was a little bit better and fully deserve the victory,” Pochettino said. “For us it is a process. It was a great opportunity for our players to visit a very difficult place to play. We can only improve and learn from this experience.”
This was the third time this year that the Americans were shut out, following a 1-0 exhibition loss to Slovenia in January and a 1-0 loss in their final Copa América game against Uruguay on July 1.
Antonee Robinson tried to tackle the ball from Mexico’s Roberto Alvarado midway through the first half, and the United States’ Aidan Morris was whistled for a foul a few yards outside the penalty area.
Jiménez struck the ensuing 25-yard free kick perfectly, curling it over the U.S. defensive wall and into the top right corner just beyond the dive of goalkeeper Matt Turner for his 34th international international goal.
Jiménez created the second goal after he ran onto a through pass, had Tim Ream knock the ball away, they regained possession from the defender and centered to Huerta.
Huerta slid around Miles Robinson and drove a low shot from near the penalty spot between the diving Turner and the left post for his third international goal.
Pochettino, hired last month to replace Gregg Berhalter, will coach his first competitive matches with the team next month in a two-leg CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal, likely against Jamaica. After that, Pochettino has just six international windows before players report ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
“We need to play more games like this in order to compete,” Pochettino said.
The Americans saw their all-time record in games vs. El Tri in Mexico fall to 1-24-4.
Javier Aguirre won his second game since replacing Jaime Lozano as Mexico coach in August. El Tri was coming off of a 2-2 draw against the Spanish club Valencia last weekend.
“I think that the team was aware of the bad performance in Puebla, they wanted to prove themselves that they were capable of playing better,” Aguirre said.
Mexico’s all-time appearances leader, Andrés Guardado, started his 182nd international match. The 38-year-old Guadalajara native was subbed out in the 19th minute of what he said was his national team finale, and he received an emotional ovation from fans in the city where his pro career began with Atlas. He was greeted by every member of the team.
Fans at Akron Stadium again yelled the homophobic chant that led to fines imposed by FIFA, but Costa Rican referee Keylor Herrera did not stop the game.