A big net gain for Ferretti
Mexico’s coach pulls off one of the nation’s top victories in its rivalry with the U.S.
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But Saturday he pulled off one of the biggest wins in the country’s long soccer rivalry with the U.S., with Paul Aguilar’s goal with two minutes remaining into overtime giving Mexico a 3-2 win in a wild CONCACAF Cup, played before a crowd of 93,723 at the Rose Bowl.
With the win, Mexico earned the right to represent CONCACAF in the 2017 Confederations Cup, an important eight-team tune-up for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Nearly as important, however, is the fact that Ferretti’s first victory with the national team ended Mexico’s six-game winless streak against its chief rival dating to 2011, the last time the two teams met in the Rose Bowl.
They had to score twice in overtime to do it, though, the first extra-time match between the U.S. and Mexico since the semifinals of the 1999 Confederations Cup.
Aguilar’s goal capped a wild 30 minutes of extra time that started with Oribe Peralta scoring what looked
to be the game winner early in overtime, only to see Bobby Wood tie it for the U.S. in the 108th minute.
Mexico’s other goal came from Javier Hernandez in the 10th minute, while Geoff Cameron got the first U.S. score in the 15th minute.
Despite boasts from organizers that the sold-out stadium would be evenly split, the Rose Bowl was a sea of green and red, with Mexican fans outnumbering the Americans 2 to 1 in the second-largest crowd for a U.S. national team game at home, trailing only the Americans’ final group-play game from the 1994 World Cup.
And the emotions of the heated rivalry boiled over in the 34th minute after Peralta’s cleats and the ball arrived in U.S. keeper Brad Guzan’s midsection at the same time.
Guzan and defender Matt Besler took exception and angrily pushed Peralta away, igniting a shoving match that quickly grew to include more than a dozen players from both teams. It took referee Joel Aguilar two minutes to sort out the melee before he gave Peralta a yellow card and Guzan a brief scolding.
That only reflected the high stakes both teams were playing for.
With the slumping U.S. coming off its worst Gold Cup finish in 15 years and Coach Juergen Klinsmann fielding questions about his job security, the coach approached Saturday as a must-win game. And the veteran roster he chose for the game underscored that. But it didn’t work. “A loss is always difficult to swallow, especially when there’s a lot at stake. It means that you have to work harder. There’s not much time in between,” said Klinsmann, whose team begins World Cup qualifying next month.
“Obviously, there will be a lot of conversation coming the next couple of days.”
Mexico, meanwhile, played as if it had nothing to lose, going with an unusual lineup that featured just two natural midfielders and three play-making forwards. While the U.S. played conservatively for much of the night, the Mexicans were fast, flashy and creative. And that paid off on all three Mexico goals. “What I like very much is what the team did. Their personality, what they tried to do on the field,” said Ferretti. “So I’m very happy for everything. The boys did a great job, it’s a result we earned.”
On the first goal, Peralta spun away from a pair of defenders and sprinted into the penalty area to take Raul Jimenez’s slick back-heel pass. Peralta then pushed the ball across the front of the six-yard box to Hernandez, who one-timed it past Guzan for his 42nd international goal — and his first in five games against the U.S.
Peralta got the second midway through the first overtime period, latching on to a loose ball redirected into the penalty area by Aguilar then driving a low right-footed shot by Guzan.
Wood came off the U.S. bench two minutes later and wound up evening the scoring, running on to a low lead pass from DeAndre Yedlin, then one-timing it into the net.
Aguilar finally ended the back-and-forth two minutes before the teams would have gone to penalty kicks, taking a pass from Jimenez and driving a right-footed blast into the net from about 15 yards out. Aguilar then celebrated by throwing himself into an advertising board along the sideline.
That marked an unfortunate end for an otherwise sterling performance by Guzan, who repeatedly frustrated Peralta and the high-powered Mexican attack that put 10 shots on goal.