Defender Paul Aguilar stunning volley at the 118th minute delivered Mexico the CONCACAF Cup and a place in the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia with a 3-2 victory over the United States.

The game went down to the wire. However, El Tri was in command of possession for majority of the match. They finished the game with 56 percent of possession of the ball and had an 85 percent of pass completed.  They moved the ball swiftly around the Rose Bowl on Saturday night in front of sold out crowd of 93,723.

The Mexicans from the start of the match understood that they had to keep the Yanks chasing them. Keeping the tempo of the match at a quick pace favored them since the Americans started three center midfielders: Jermaine Jones, Michael Bradley and Kyle Beckerman. None of the three are known for their speed. However, if they got into a physical contest they will win. So El Tri went with finesse over physicality, and it paid off for them quickly.

Javier Hernandez put El Tri in front 1-0 in the 10th minute of the match. Quick short passes broke down the USMNT’s defense. The Americans were put to asleep as Mexico quickly completed three passes, which sent Oribe Peralta into the right hand side of the penalty box. 

The Mexican striker then lured U.S. goalie Brad Guzan out of his goal by dribbling towards the net. Before Guzan or the defense cut off Peralta, he centered the ball to a wide open Hernandez. Chicharito finished off the play with a simple tap in.

After that goal El Tri were looking to get their second goal. Their offense kept on rolling but the defense concentration began to drift off. The USMNT’s two goals came from defensive relapse of El Tri. Instead of playing a smart zone they gambled for a steal to start a counter. In result, that led to 18 fouls and four yellow cards. Not to mention the U.S. produced 14 shots and put five of them on frame.

Regardless, that Mexico gave up the lead twice with Geoff Cameron’s header in the 15th minute and super subs Bobby Wood’s close range nutmeg shot in the 108th, their pressure continued. American goalie and the defense were busy throughout the entire 90 minutes due to Mexico’s 23 shots and seven of them were on target. El Tri forced Guzan to make four saves to keep the USMNT in the game.

However, Guzan’s solid effort was not enough as Peralta scored at the 96th minute. After they recaptured the lead there was a quick moment where El Tri did not execute to the high level they did in regulation time. However, once they gave up the lead for the second time their never slowed the tempo down again.  

However, regardless of the match reaching to over time Mexico was always in control of the ball. The main reason for their dominance was the midfield. Captain Andres Guardado, Hector Herrera, Rafael Marquez, even defenders Miguel Layun and Aguilar kept the ball moving rapidly. The Yanks wasted their energy attempting to slow down the Mexican offense, that whenever they did manage to get the ball they lost it quickly. The United States failed on 72 passes when in overall they attempted 344. Compared to El Tri who attempted 520 passes in the game, and only 79 missed their targets.

The USMNT simply struggled to muster any momentum at times. It is not hard to see when Mexico was not giving up the ball. The Americans were lucky that the El Tri’s defense throughout the game had shaky moment and the creativity of their subs DeAndre Yedlin and Wood. However, in the end the team who played football won and deserved it, the spectacular wining wonder goal from Aguilar was just the icing on the cake for Mexican fans.    

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About the author
Jorge Belon
My name is Jorge Belon. I’m a writer for VAVEL USA and VAVEL UK. My focus is on soccer. Throughout the years I have created different blogs all revolving around soccer. My first was Mr. JB Soccer in 2012. Now I currently operate Belon Soccer News (BSN), where I cover soccer mostly from North America and international tournaments. I am a college at Los Angeles Valley College. I was a part of the college newspaper, The Valley Star for two years. At the Star I held the position of Sports Editor, News Editor, Managing Editor and Editor in Chief. I have been writing about soccer for the past three years. I have covered: Major League Soccer, Gold Cup, Under-20 Men’s World Cup, Women’s World Cup, Men’s World Cup and many more.