USA vs. Mexico

It took a blizzard and an appeal by Costa Rica, but the U.S. men’s national team officially won their first match of 2014 World Cup qualifying in Colorado last Friday. Only four days removed from ending their cold spell in the freezing weather of Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, the Yanks travel south of the border to face their biggest rival at the house of horrors that is Estadio Azteca.
The American men will try to maintain the momentum that has propelled them to second place in the Hexagonal behind Honduras. They will have to do it at a stadium where they have historically gone 0-13-1, the hostile crowd and the inspired home side crushing American dreams every time they have visited the venue in Mexico City. But the way the U.S. is playing right now, they can at least make life difficult for Mexico.
Can that equate to the first American victory at the Azteca on the fifteenth try? The stakes for both sides are high, and there will be no snow to assist the Americans this time around. Despite previous miseries, though, the U.S. men’s national team has a legitimate shot at increasing the misery for Mexican fans.
Continue reading for a complete breakdown of tonight’s World Cup qualifier.