The selections of Mexico and United States tied goalless this Thursday at the Azteca Stadium in a match with numerous failures by the strikers and were one step away from qualifying for the Qatar World Cup 2022.
The United States put pressure on the start of the game that had a fighting first half in the middle of the court and opportunities for both sides. The Mexicans had possession 55-45 in favor, however they let go of the possibility of opening the scoring in the 28th minute, when Jesús Manuel Corona stepped into the area with everything in his favor, but he controlled the ball poorly and could not finish off.
The United States put together two clear goal plays in which the Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa saved the home team; in minute 14 he narrowed down precisely on a left-footed shot from Yunus Musah and in minute 35 he was left with a shot from Christian Pulisic.
For the second half, the United States got closer to the goal again with another shot by Pulisic, in the 49th minute, again stopped by Ochoa. Jiménez, a striker for Wolverhampton in the English Premier League, had the lead for Mexico in the 70th minute and gave the ball away, two minutes before Jordan Siebatcheu failed in front of Ochoa’s goal.
After failing so much in the definition, the Mexicans wanted to win the hard way. In the 90th minute, Alexis Vega preferred to fake a foul in the area rather than look for the goal and earned a warning.
Mexico, a self-proclaimed Concacaf giant, went to a draw and three losses in its last four games against the United States and was dismissed by its fans with a whistle for its inability to win at home.
With two games remaining for each team, Canada leads the tie with 25 points, followed by the United States and Mexico, in that order with 22, Costa Rica (19), Panama (18), El Salvador (10), Jamaica (8) and Honduras (4).
On the penultimate round of qualifying, next Sunday Mexico will visit Honduras, Panama will visit the United States, Jamaica will visit Canada and Costa Rica will visit El Salvador.
DATA SHEET
0 – Mexico: William Ochoa; Jorge Sánchez, César Montes, Johan Vásquez, Gerardo Arteaga; Héctor Herrera, Édson Álvarez, Carlos Rodríguez (Erick Gutiérrez, m.79); Hirving Lozano, Raúl Jiménez, Jesus M. Corona (Alexis Vega, m.79).
Coach: Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino
0 – United States: Zack Steffen; DeAndre Yedlin (Erick Palmer-Brown, m.80), Walker Zimmerman, Miles Robinson, Antonee Robinson; Yunus Musah, Tyler Adams (Aaron Long, m.80), Kellyn Acosta; Tim Weah (Gio Reyna, m.60), Ricardo Pepi (Jordan Siebatcheu, m.60), Christian Pulisic (Jordan Morris, m.84).
Coach: Gregg Berhalter
Referee: Mario Escobar, from Guatemala. He admonished Álvarez, Vega, Robinson, Yedlin and Weah
Incidents: Concacaf qualifying match for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, held at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, 2,240 meters above sea level, before some 47,000 fans
