USMNT polished, confident in earning World Cup qualifying win over Mexico

By Doug McIntyre
FOX Sports Soccer Writer

One of the lowest moments of Gregg Berhalter’s almost three-year tenure as coach of the U.S men’s national team was a 3-0 home loss to Mexico in September 2019. 

The lopsided defeat came on the heels of another to El Tri just two months earlier in the final of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The second one was a mere friendly, but it was ugly. On a bumpy temporary grass field laid atop the artificial surface at MetLife Stadium, the USMNT made several unforced errors while moving the ball out from its own goal, gifting its fiercest rival an embarrassing rout. It left fans and pundits alike wondering if Berhalter was the man to lead the U.S back to the World Cup after the U.S. missed out for the first time in a generation in 2018.

In Cincinnati on Friday, more than two years later, Berhalter’s plan paid off. A more polished, seasoned and confident U.S. team passed the ball around and ultimately through El Tri, creating second-half goals from headliners Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie on the way to yet another famous 2-0, "Dos a Cero" World Cup qualifying win over Mexico — its third over Tata Martino’s team in a competitive match this year.

Make no mistake: This was a landmark victory for the hosts. Most important, it thrust the U.S. — whose home loss to Mexico five years ago paved the way toward last cycle’s disaster — into sole possession of first place at the halfway mark of the region’s eight-team, 14-match final round. The USMNT is now a giant step closer to next year’s tournament in Qatar.

Still, the outcome was anything but certain until Pulisic came off the bench to score the winner with just over a quarter-hour of regular time remaining.

"I was thinking how well we're playing," Berhalter said when asked if he feared the breakthrough his side needed might not come. "It would’ve been a shame if we didn't win the game."

The first half was predictably cagey. Mexico was probably the better team, with U.S. keeper Zack Steffen forced to make a pair of acrobatic stops. But the second half belonged to the U.S. from start to finish.

Berhalter’s team was all over Martino’s after the break. And despite the coach’s fear that his players wouldn’t be rewarded for their superiority, in hindsight, the result seems almost preordained. This was the fifth triumph over Mexico in the last six home qualifiers, all of them in Ohio, and all by that now-familiar 2-0 scoreline.

"Even towards the end of the first and then the second half, we had some periods where I think we were really strong. It was our game to lose, it felt like," said Pulisic, who had been sidelined by a high ankle sprain for most of the last two months. "We played really well today."

McKennie gave the U.S. some breathing room when he doubled the advantage with five minutes to go, but Tim Weah might have played a bigger role than either scorer Friday. It was Weah who unlocked Mexico’s defense when he shimmied past his marker on the right wing, setting up Pulisic with a pinpoint cross.

"I've been playing with Christian for a while now, since I was 17 when I joined the national team," said Weah, to whom Berhalter gave the game ball as the team’s Man of the Match. "Knowing him, I know that he's our star player, and he's always going to be in the right spots."

The Americans are in the right spot now. The three consecutive wins over Mexico have upended this rivalry in short order. If the U.S. wasn’t the kings of CONCACAF before, they sure are now.

"I think we've earned respect," Pulisic said. "We've come a long way in the last couple years."

No doubt. They’ve also still got a ways to go. Getting back to the World Cup is Job One, and as important a step in that direction they took on Friday, it won’t mean as much if the U.S. drops points in Jamaica Tuesday in a potential trap game against the sixth-place Reggae Boyz. McKennie and central defender Miles Robinson — who was sent off for a second bookable offense in the waning moments in Cincy — are both suspended for the match because of yellow card accumulation.

"For us, it's about how quickly can we get over this win, get back down to ground and get focused on what the next task is," Berhalter said. "We want to turn around and have a strong performance in Jamaica."

That doesn’t mean everyone involved with the U.S. program won’t thoroughly enjoy topping Mexico once again — especially after several El Tri veterans provided their younger, less experienced foes with some juicy (and, as it turned out, ill-advised) bulletin-board material leading into this marquee contest. For all their youth, this is a far more mature and sophisticated U.S. team than the one that Mexico humiliated two years back.

"Before the game, Mexico was talking a lot of smack, and you know, beating them just shuts them up," Weah said.

"It’s a new era now."

One of the most prominent soccer journalists in North America, Doug McIntyre has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams in more than a dozen countries, including multiple FIFA World Cups. Before joining FOX Sports, the New York City native was a staff writer for Yahoo Sports and ESPN. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.