Key events
82 min: McGlynn replaces the ineffective Adams, who kicks something on the bench in frustration.
Goooooaaaalll! USA 1-2 Mexico (Alvarez 77)
The VAR decision is that Alvarez barely stayed on.
I suppose, but given the way the freeze-frame technology usually finds some fingernail in an offside position, I don’t know that I buy it.
Gooooooall! No.
At least for now. The ball is played across the area, off one Mexican player’s head and then off Alvarez’s head and into the net.
But he’s offside.
Or …
76 min: Strong defensive play from Berhalter near the top of the penalty area, but Mexico regain possession, and Luna is called for a foul. The ball is near the far sideline.
74 min: Mexico bring in Pineda for the youngster Mora, who certainly made his presence felt in this game.
73 min: Alvarado has a sliver of space, but the US defense swarm to take it away.
72 min: Pochettino sent Downs into the game with instructions to be relayed to his teammates, and it appears they were not correctly relayed. The team are in disarray.
71 min: Against all odds and all stats, this game is still 1-1.
Mexico gets their 11th corner kick. The USA have none.
69 min: US sub: Downs for de la Torre. Today is Downs’ 21st birthday, so if the USA were to somehow win this, he’d be allowed to taste the champagne.
67 min: Vega’s cross sails across the front of the net, and Richards chests it out for a corner.
Replay shows the defender certainly put a hand on the ball while it was sitting on the ground. From a common-sense point of view, I can understand why that wasn’t called, but from a Laws of the Game perspective, I don’t.
67 min: Arfsten beats one defender but not the next, but the defender puts a hand down to the ground and … maybe handles the ball?
65 min: Mexico’s eighth corner kick is deflected for Mexico’s ninth corner kick. But we’ll pause as the ref notices the two Mexican players once again giving Berhalter a noogie.
64 min: Adams slams into Alvarado and is surprised to be called for a foul.
Joe Pearson: “According to the ELO rankings (not the band), Mexico are 22, USA are 40. Seems about right.”
Speaking of Elo ratings, congratulations to Magnus Carlsen for breaking the 2900 mark.
61 min: Tillman slides through two Mexican players and is called for fouling at least one of them.
Before that, a half-chance for the USA as a through ball pops into space, but Malagon alertly races out of his goal to play the ball. He was probably getting bored.
58 min: As a referee myself (very, very low level), I hate to criticize the people with the whistles, but after a sound decision to establish control early by blowing the whistle often, he seems to have misplaced it. Tillman is just getting clobbered out there.
“His threshold for a foul is insanely high,” says one person on the refereeing forum I peruse.
Hey – foul called as Agyemang is held like a long-lost brother at midfield.
56 min: Just an embarrassing sequence for the US defense there, as Alvarado goes 1-on-2 and arguably wins. Then a desperate lunge masquerading as a slide tackle fails to do the task, and in the end, it’s a deflected shot/cross that Freese awkwardly punches out for a corner.
Then no one is marking Vega, and his cross slams into Freese and, to the US keeper’s relief, stays under him.
55 min: Tillman is mauled at midfield, and while our intermittently attentive referee blows the whistle, he still takes the time to let everyone know he doesn’t appreciate that.
54 min: CHANCE for the USA, with Arfsten getting into the attack, faking out one defender and launching a shot that goes just over the far upper corner.
53 min: Presumably, the US will have another touch on the ball before the game ends.
51 min: CHANCE for Mexico, and that was so close. Alvarado, from near one corner of the penalty area, just misses the far post.
50 min: The Turf Monster causes a Mexican attacker to trip. About time the USA’s most consistent defender made an appearance.
49 min: Jiménez lofts a cross from the right flank, and this time it’s Freeman doing just enough to disrupt the attack.
Mexico attack again, and Richards has to scramble back to knock it out for a corner.
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 Agyemang 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.
