U.S. is in
The United States defeats Mexico to lock up a World Cup berth.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The United States sealed its seventh consecutive World Cup appearance Tuesday night, beating Mexico, 2-0, on second-half goals by Eddie Johnson and Landon Donovan before a raucous red, white and blue-clad crowd that stood and chanted from start to finish.
After withstanding Mexico’s pressure for the first 20 minutes, the U.S. settled in the match and got the breakthrough in the 49th minute when Johnson outjumped defender Diego Reyes to meet Donovan’s corner kick 8 yards out and head the ball past goalkeeper Jesus Corona.
With Mexico shifting to an offense-minded 3-4-3 formation, the U.S. scored in the 78th after a throw-in when Mix Diskerud threaded the ball across the middle. Clint Dempsey got the slightest of touches as he slid into the goalmouth and Donovan poked it in from 2 yards.
The U.S. (5-2-1) moved into first place in the North and Central American and Caribbean finals with 16 points, one ahead of Costa Rica (4-1-3), which was held to a 1-1 tie at last-place Jamaica and also clinched.
“Obviously this is a huge, huge evening for all of us,” coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. “It’s a huge milestone whenever you make it to a World Cup.”
The top three teams qualify, and the U.S. had to wait an hour after the final whistle to learn it was assured of a spot in the 32-nation field for Brazil next June. But when Honduras (3-32) held on for a 2-2 tie against Panama (1-2-5) in Tegucigalpa, the Americans had grabbed a berth with two games to spare.
“We’re continuing the growth of the game here in the sport, we’re improving, getting better and we’ve got to make sure we do well in Brazil to keep it going,” Dempsey said.
Mexico (1-2-5) dropped into fifth and, at best, likely seems headed to a playoff against Oceania champion New Zealand.
After beating Mexico in qualifiers by identical 2-0 scores at Columbus Crew Stadium in 2001, 2005 and 2009, the U.S. Soccer Federation picked the same venue for this year’s match. The capacity crowd of 24,584 taunted the Mexicans with chants of “Dos a cero!” and “You’re not going to Brazil!”