SI.com’s Grant Wahl offers five takeaways from Wednesday’s 2-2 draw between the USA and Mexico at Reliant Stadium in Houston. Firstly, Wahl says, the next generation has arrived — for both teams. Jozy Altidore, scorer of the Americans’ second goal with a brilliant header, “never looked out of place going the entire 90 minutes.” Altidore definitely held his own in there, his size more than anything else creating problems for the Mexican defense, particularly Barcelona’s Rafa Marquez. That said, he wasn’t given a lot of space to maneuver, and he gave away far too many fouls. Freddy Adu, on as a second-half substitute, also struggled to find space, but showed glimpses of his potential in one stoppage-time run. For Mexico, Arsenal man Carlos Vela “was a terror down the left flank,” as was Barca’s Gio Dos Santos down the right, though the latter was given too little time as a second-half sub.
Wahl’s other takeaways: Oguchi Onyewu “was pure class,” he says, “taking care of business on the defensive end and scoring the U.S.’ first goal on a smart play.” U.S. keeper Tim Howard also had a good night in goal, but he has to work on his communication problems with his teammates. Howard ran into Carlos Bocanegra on one play and could be seen screaming repeatedly at his wall on set pieces. That and overall marking on set pieces need to be sorted out.
Finally, Mexico, in coming from behind twice (thanks to some poor marking from right back Drew Moor) changed its “defeatist” mentality against the Americans on U.S. soil. Wahl says that Hugo Sanchez’s men didn’t play scared, and created dangerous chances throughout.