The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
United States scores early in draw at Mexico
Michael Bradley’s goal from 40yards out gave the United States Men’s National Team a 1-0lead just six minutes into Sunday’s World Cup qualifier with Mexico and the team would hold on to draw.
MEXICO CITY » Michael Bradley watched Hector Moreno’s pass to Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez in the center circle and thought back to the videos he had seen of the star pushing the ball back. So even before Chicharito tapped the ball toward Hector Herrera, Bradley stepped up.
The U. S. captain knocked the ball toward Mexico’s goal, sprinted to catch up and lofted a right- footed chip from about 40 yards over goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa’s outstretched arm and under the crossbar.
The crowd of 81,000 at Estadio Azteca was stunned. The United States had taken the lead six minutes into Sunday night’s World Cup qualifier.
“Here you know that if you catch a ball right, that with the thin air the ball’s going to really fly,” Bradley said.
U.S. coach Bruce Arena changed seven of 11 starters and employed a five- man defense to overcome the 7,820foot altitude and short recovery time. His team did not quite soar all night, but Bradley’s goal set the tone. Carlos Vela tied it in the 23rd minute on a counterattack with a 23- yard shot that beat goalkeeper Brad Guzan to the near post, but the Americans hung on for a 1- 1 tie to gain only their third point at Azteca.
“The bad start in the hex meant that every point now is worth its weight in gold,” Bradley said.
Mexico leads the final round of the North and Central American and Caribbean region with 14 points, followed by Costa Rica and the U. S. ( eight each), Panama ( six), Honduras ( four) and Trinidad and Tobago ( three). The top three advance to next year’s World Cup in Russia, and the fourth- place team faces Asia’s No. 5 nation in a playoff.
Panama hosts Honduras on Tuesday, when Costa Rica hosts Trinidad and Tobago.
Quite a turnaround since November, when a 2- 1 home loss to Mexico and a 4- 0 wipeout in Costa Rica caused the U. S. Soccer Federation to fire coach Jurgen Klinsmann and bring back Arena, the U. S. coach from 1998- 2006.
“It’s going to be very challenging right to end, but I feel good about where we are,” Arena said. “We’ve made up some lost ground, so I feel good about that.”
Herrera nearly put El Tri ahead in the 71st with a 30- yard free kick that rebounded off the crossbar. Three minutes later, Bradley sent a 30- yard shot off a post.
Mexico had only a modest 10- 7 advantage in shots at a venue where it usually dominates. Speaking shortly after a downpour began in stoppage time, Arena said a key was exploiting his roster’s depth and revealed he divulged to players when training camp opened on May 29 that he planned different lineups and formations for the upcoming qualifiers.
“To repeat the lineup we played on Thursday, we would have struggled bigtime in the altitude,” Arena said. “We told the team on Day One we were going to make seven- to- 11 changes for this game. We went with seven. I was close to nine yesterday.”
While he employed a standard 4- 4- 2 formation in the 2- 0 homewin over Trinidad, Arena decided as far back as January to start five defenders at Mexico.
“We tossed it around in our office with our coaches and they were probably not real supportive of the idea since they may be don’t have enough experience in that formation,” Arena said. “I was pretty confident we could implement that. We have very good center backs, and that’s the key to that system.”