Mexico–United States soccer rivalry


A sports rivalry exists between the national football teams of Mexico and the United States, widely considered the two major powers of CONCACAF. The first match was played in 1934, and the teams have met 70 times, with Mexico leading the overall series 36–15–19. However, the Americans lead the series 18–12–15 since the beginning of the 1980s.
Matches between the two nations often attract much media attention, public interest and comment in both countries. The U.S.-Mexico matches are widely attended; several matches at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico have drawn over 100,000 fans, and several matches at the Rose Bowl in the United States have drawn over 90,000 fans.
The most important matchups take place in quadrennial FIFA World Cup qualification matches and major tournaments such as the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The rivalry plays out often in annual friendlies scheduled during the early months in U.S. cities with large Mexican American populations such as Los Angeles, Houston, and Chicago.

History

Origin

The first match between the two sides was a qualifying match in Italy for the final ticket to the 1934 World Cup. Where football was seen as a foreign sport in the United States, in Mexico, like many Latin American nations, it was embraced from the start as part of their culture. The U.S. had established a professional league in 1921, but it had folded in 1933. The final score was United States 4–2 Mexico. Three years later, Mexico began a winning streak over the U.S. in friendlies 7–2, 7–3, and 5–1 in Mexico City.

Recent years

Prior to 2012, Mexico had never lost to the United States at home and now owns a 23–3–1 record on their native soil. Mexico has won in the United States twelve times, compiling a record of 12–11–16.
For most of the 20th century, the rivalry between the two nations was not significant due to the superiority of the Mexican team for the majority of that period. This began to change in the 1990s, when a new generation of United States players made the matches seriously competitive for the first time.
Several significant matches in the early 21st century ended in a 2–0 scoreline in favor of the United States, which was nicknamed Dos a Cero by fans. Starting in 2001 during the qualifying cycle for the 2002 World Cup, the U.S. hosted Mexico in Columbus, Ohio at Columbus Crew Stadium, now known as Mapfre Stadium. The first meeting between Mexico and the United States ended in a 2–0 win for the U.S. Following the victory, the U.S. hosted Mexico at Crew Stadium again in 2005, 2009, and 2013 for World Cup Qualifiers. Each time these teams met in Columbus, the U.S. has come out with a 2–0 win. Following the 10 September 2013 game the U.S. clinched a World Cup berth following a Panama-Honduras 2–2 draw. Their meeting in the round of 16 of the 2002 World Cup also ended in a U.S. win by the same score. In addition, the U.S. has won three friendlies against Mexico by that score since 2000—in Los Angeles in 2000, the Phoenix area in 2007, and San Antonio in 2015.
On 11 November 2016, Mexico was finally able to win a Hexagonal World Cup qualifier in Columbus after beating the U.S. 2-1 with a late Rafael Márquez header. A favourable result for Mexico over the U.S. in World Cup qualifying had not been obtained on U.S. soil since 1972. This would become a major factor in the U.S. failing to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, as they would fail to make the final tournament for the first time in 32 years.

Results

Summary

On a macro level, Mexico leads the series 36–15–19, with almost double the goals of the U.S..
On neutral territory, the United States leads the series 3–1. In addition, the lone World Cup match between the two countries, a Round of 16 meeting at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea, resulted in a 2–0 victory for the United States.
YearsMatchesFor MexicoDrawFor USAGoals
All Time70361519Mexico 142–80 United States
1930s–1940s7601Mexico 38–12 United States
1950s–1960s8620Mexico 30–8 United States
1970s–1980s121011Mexico 27–7 United States
1990s14563Mexico 17–15 United States
2000s164210Mexico 13–23 United States
2010s13544Mexico 17–15 United States

Main Championship TitlesMexicoUnited States
FIFA Confederations Cup*
1
0
CONCACAF Gold Cup
8
6
CONCACAF Cup*
1
0
CONCACAF Championship*
3
0

*no longer played

Gold Cup finals

The United States and Mexico have met in six Gold Cup finals to date, with Mexico holding a five games to one lead over the United States.
TournamentHostWinnerFinal ScoreRunner-up
1993'4–0
1998United States'1–0
2007United States'2–1
2009United States'5–0
2011United States'4–2
2019United States'1–0

List of matches

Player eligibility

The United States and Mexico also compete to convince players who are eligible to play for both the United States and Mexico to play for their particular national team. To date, only two players, Martín Vásquez and Edgar Castillo have played for both nations. Castillo, who was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, debuted with the Mexican side in August 2007 for a match that was part of the 2008 CONCACAF Men Pre-Olympic Tournament. Castillo played his first game for the United States, a friendly against Denmark in 2009.
Other cases include William Yarbrough, Isaác Brizuela, Miguel Ponce and more recently with Jonathan González.
Prior to an Olympic qualifying game in Guadalajara, Mexico, on February 10, 2004, Mexican media reported that U.S. player Landon Donovan urinated on the field during practice, which angered Mexican fans and media outlets. Subsequent video showed Donovan actually urinated near some bushes outside the practice areas. Two days later, on February 12, 2004, Mexico defeated the U.S. 4–0, and the crowd was heard chanting "Osama, Osama, Osama", in reference to Osama bin Laden and the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
In a friendly held in Glendale, Arizona on February 7, 2007, Landon Donovan scored in injury time to give the U.S. a 2–0 lead and win over Mexico. After the goal, Mexico goalkeeper Oswaldo Sánchez tried to trip U.S. player Eddie Johnson as Johnson was running to celebrate the goal. No contact was made, and no reprimand resulted.
On February 11, 2009, the first qualifier for the 2010 World Cup was held in Columbus Crew Stadium, and resulted in a 2–0 victory for the U.S. against Mexico. After the game, as both teams headed through the tunnels to the locker room, Mexican assistant coach Francisco "Paco" Javier Ramírez slapped Frankie Hejduk in the face. Hejduk did not retaliate, and Ramirez was not reprimanded.

Women's football

While most matches between the US and Mexico women's teams have been played on U.S. soil, some have been played in Mexico, including one at Estadio Azteca in 1999 which ended 0–0. Another was played during the 2008 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship at Puebla, Mexico, where the U.S. U-20 defeated the Mexico U-20 3–0.
Most games have been won by the US team. The Mexican women's team defeated the U.S. at the 2010 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup semifinal, where they won 2–1. This win qualified the Mexican side for their second Women's World Cup. Mexico also defeated the U.S. at the 2007 Pan American Games in Brazil, where Mexico won 3–2 after being down 2 goals, although in that tournament, the U.S. fielded their U-20 team as opposed to their senior team.
On January 28, 2018, the Mexican U-20 squad defeated the United States' team in the finals of the 2018 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship. After a 1–1 draw in the first 90 minutes, Mexico won the match on penalty kicks, scoring 4 against the US total of 2. It was the third time the CONCACAF U-20 Championship featured USA and Mexico in the final game, and the first time that Mexico won.

In popular culture

A 2012 documentary, Gringos at the Gate / Ahi Vienen Los Gringos, written and directed by Pablo Miralles, Roberto Donati, and Michael Whalen,
focuses on the cultural differences between the United States and Mexico when it comes to football. This includes the conflict of Mexican-American players in the U.S. while their family might support Mexico.