MEXICO
USMNT vs Mexico: when did El Tri last beat the Stars and Stripes?
In Wednesday’s friendly at State Farm Stadium, Mexico will be looking to bring an end to a barren run of results in meetings with the United States.
When Mexico face the United States on Wednesday, El Tri will be out to halt one of their worst ever runs against their chief CONCACAF rivals. The sides’ last four meetings have yielded three defeats and a draw for the Mexicans; in all, it’s been 1,474 days since they last beat the Stars and Stripes.
Hernández, Gutiérrez and Antuna on target at MetLife
That win came on 6 September 2019, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The friendly was an immediate chance for the USMNT to get revenge on Mexico, who had come out on top two months earlier when the sides faced off in the 2019 Gold Cup final. However, it was an opportunity that Gregg Berhalter’s men were unable to take, as Mexico ran out comprehensive winners, beating their hosts 3-0 thanks to goals by Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernández, Erick Gutiérrez and Uriel Antuna.
It wasn’t only Mexico’s last victory over the USMNT; it was also Hernández’s most recent appearance for the national team. During the same international window, the Los Angeles Galaxy striker is reported to have committed off-the-field transgressions that persuaded the then-Mexico head coach, Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino, not to pick the player for the remainder of his tenure.
USMNT’s results against Mexico since September 2019
In the three and a half years since the Mexicans last got the better of the US, the Americans have won out in three crunch match-ups between the teams: a 3-2 extra-time victory in the final of the CONCACAF Nations League in June 2021; a 1-0 triumph, also in extra time, in the Gold Cup final two months later; and a 2-0 win in the countries’ opening meeting in qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, in November 2021. Having come in the space of five months, that trio of defeats were at the centre of the most turbulent period in Martino’s stint as Mexico boss, which came to an end after El Tri’s group-stage exit in Qatar late last year.
In Mexico’s fourth meeting with the US since September 2019, also in World Cup qualifying, the sides drew 0-0 at the Estadio Azteca in March 2022.
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Americans also went on Mexico run two decades ago
In the mid to late noughties, the USMNT enjoyed a similar run of dominance over Mexico. Over the course of 1,422 days, between 3 September 2005 and 26 July 2009, the seven-time Gold Cup winners put together a sequence of four victories and one draw, during a period in which the nations’ soccer rivalry hardened. It’s a rivalry whose latest chapter will be written at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
