By Ridge Mahoney
Senior Editor, Soccer America
in Glendale, Ariz.
The players change, the coaches change, the venues change. The result doesn't change.
Mexico created more and better chances, again, and again failed to score while losing to the USA, 2-0, before a sellout crowd of 62,462 in the first meeting between the archrivals since a U.S. victory by the same score 17 months ago in Columbus that clinched a spot in the 2006 World Cup.
Mexico failed to exploit the positional errors, sloppy touches, and chronic giveaways its pressuring, physical style often creates and after a banal first half Jimmy Conrad and Landon Donovan scored the goals to extend the U.S. unbeaten record against Mexico on American soil to eight games (7-0-1, win-loss-tie). In those games, Mexico has been outscored, 13-0.
Whatever mastery Mexico, which has never lost to the USA in Mexico, may enjoy of the ball and the rest of the Concacaf region, it can't hurdle a psychological wall far higher than any fence that could be built on the border.
In his debut as Mexico's head coach, former superstar striker Hugo Sanchez sent out an experienced fleet of players renowned for their skill yet plagued by constant failure against their northern rival. So it proved to be the case again as no matter what method of attack – diagonal balls, deep crosses, intricate passing sequences – produced chances, the Mexicans squandered them all.
As is so often the case in these games, breakdowns and breaks decided the outcome. The USA escaped repeatedly. Rattled, psyched-out Mexico did not.
Seven minutes into the second half, defender Carlos Salcido lost Conrad on a corner kick and the Kansas City defender drilled a header from Donovan's feed just inside Oswaldo Sanchez's right post. Pell-mell play followed, yet despite roaring down the flanks and knifing through the middle, Mexico ran aground against a few sparkling saves by Tim Howard and a half-dozen courageous blocks.
When Jared Borgetti shook loose from Conrad on a corner kick, he headed just wide. Conrad blocked a point-blank shot by Jose Francisco Fonseca, Howard held a point-blank header by Omar Bravo. When a neat square ball by Borgetti rolled invitingly for Bravo along the six-yard box, Howard's imposing lunge so terrified Bravo he whiffed.
''It has to be weighing on their minds,'' said defender Carlos Bocanegra, who played a full Premier League game for Fulham Saturday and went the entire 90 against Mexico. ''They want to beat us more than anything and we feel the same way about them, so to win again is great for us and keeps us on top.''
Coach Bob Bradley started Donovan and Chris Rolfe up top, with Dempsey on the right side of midfield and Bobby Convey on the left. Holding the ball and building attacks proved to be problematic, and thus Ricardo Clark and Pablo Mastroeni had few options to play the balls they had won. Dempsey seldom got into a spot to run at defenders with the ball, and when Convey did get the ball most of his dribbles died out.
Outside backs Jonathan Bornstein and Chris Albright were occasionally overrun, yet those times Mexico did carve out space on the flanks the ensuing cross usually came flying back out from the head of either Conrad or Bocanegra.
Sanchez brought in Fonseca and Andres Guardado at halftime to work the flanks, but before Mexico could take advantage of the possession and space conceded by a opponent stretched wider and wider with each attack, Dempsey won a corner, Donovan swung it over, and Conrad nailed his first international goal.
A mix-up between Bocanegra and Mastroeni on a seemingly innocuous through ball should have been catastrophic, but Bravo dallied and Albright came over to clear. The Mexican back line began to push higher in support and substitute Eddie Johnson ran onto a through ball and drilled a rising shot Sanchez parried.
Donovan and Dempsey briefly switched positions and Bornstein got up the left to further rattle Mexico's already jangled nerves. Josh Gros came in at right back and Brian Carroll took over from Dempsey at right mid. Even with those fresh legs, the USA seldom could tamp down the frenzy.
Despite long stretches of possession and runs up the flank, good Mexican shots were few: Gerardo Torrado missed badly from long range, Guardado fired at Howard, who dropped the ball but recovered it.
The clincher, appropriately, came completely unwarranted yet it was beautifully taken. Salcido's midfield pass bounced off referee Mauricio Navarro and Clark smartly played it first-time to Donovan, who poked it into space to split two opponents. His speed and brilliance did the rest and after darting around Sanchez he slotted the ball home left-footed.
The mind game, and the result, went to the northerners once again.