PASADENA-Under the bright lights of the Rose Bowl on a Saturday night, Mexican defender Paul Aguilar thunderous volley at the 118th minute guaranteed El Tri the 3-2 victory against the United States in the CONCACAF Cup.

With this result El Tri is heading to the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. However, the game was just minutes away from being decided in penalties. Until Aguilar ended the game by creating some magic, in front of sold out crowd of 93,723 people.

The Mexican midfielder Hector Herrera took a set piece from near midfield. He sent a ball towards the left hand side of the penalty box. However, American right back Brad Evans cleared the ball out of the box with a header. His clearance traveled right to the feet of El Tri defender Miguel Layun. However, he failed to get a clean touch so the ball flew near the top of the box.

It was a foot race between forward Raúl Jiménez and U.S. left back DaMarcus Beasley to gain control of the loose ball. However, right before Beasley was able to blast it out of danger, Jiménez flicked it up in the air. The ball soared behind him and began to drop at the right hand side of the penalty box.

Aguilar followed the high ball and right before it touched the grass he fired a screamer into the bottom right hand corner to give El Tri the 3-2 victory. The Mexican fans in the Rose Bowl exploded as a sea of green shirts jumped in jubilation, because the four-year drought of Mexico failing to beat the USMNT was over.

“In the 118th minute, they score a great goal and, in the end that’s the difference,” said Captain Michael Bradley after the match. “Obviously we can talk about how things went over the course of the game, but, like I said, in a final like that, it’s never going to go perfectly and I still thought that we were able to deal with things for the most part in a pretty solid way.”

However, regardless that the game reached to extra time the Mexicans were in control of the match from the start. El Tri hardly gave up the ball in the game as they finished with a passing accuracy of 85 percent. In the first half Mexico was disturbing the ball around the field with such speed that the United States seemed to still be in warm up mood.

The Rose Bowl became a symphony of Mexican chants, as the fans noise drowned out anything else in the stadium. The players fed off the energy and started to make the U.S. defense sweat. Within the first eight minute Mexico nearly scored twice. El Tri almost jumped ahead as a nifty cross came from the end line on the left hand side. The ball was heading towards the center of the box and El Tri forward Oribe Peralta put himself in prime position to score. However, he failed to make contact on the ball and the play was over.

Then two minutes later Aguilar was able to get by his defender and sent a cross into the box from the right hand side of the field. Mexican forward Javier Hernandez made a smart run into the box and split the two American defenders in the process. However, the ball sailed over Hernandez head and the shaky USMNT defense breathed a huge sigh of relief.

However, at the 10th minute the Mexicans broke through and took the 1-0 lead. Aguilar was coming down the right hand side casually with his head up looking for a crack in the American defense.

He then sent a quick pass to a cutting Peralta, but the forward let the ball go by and then Jiménez received the ball. Peralta continued his run into the box and Jiménez gave him the ball. Peralta was heading towards the goal and U.S. goalie Brad Guzan was forced to come out to close the forwards angle.

However, with Guzan leaving his post the goal was empty and Hernandez had just arrived in the center of the box. Peralta saw him and dished out a quick pass to an open Chicharito, and the striker just tapped the ball in to give the Mexicans the early lead.

El Tri was off to a flying start but before they were able to build on their lead Geoff Cameron leveled the game 1-1 for the United States. Only five minutes had passed since Mexico jumped ahead and the USMNT were in prime position to tie the game.

Bradley delivered a lethal set piece from the right hand corner. His cross flew into the heart of the box and Cameron pounced on the ball to tie the match.

The score was once again even but just as before the Mexican were in control of the tempo. They were able to produce 23 shots and seven of them hit the frame. Guzan repelled four of them in the match to keep the USMNT hopes of qualifying to the Confederations Cup alive.

However, after Cameron tied the match the game became a physical derby match. Both countries combined for 30 tackles, 30 fouls and six yellow cards. In result, of the physicality the tempo slowed down but Mexico was still in control.

El Tri almost retook the lead in the 25th minute when Captain Andres Guardado fired a long range shot heading towards the right post. However, Guzan dove on time to the right and smothered the shot to keep the score 1-1.

Mexico continued to knock on the door and Peralta was the force leading El Tri’s attack. His effort in the 33rd minute sparked a rumble between the two rivals. He slid to challenge the ball from Guzan. However, the U.S. keeper had controlled the ball, but Peralta did not stop and attempted to knock the ball away from Guzan’s hands.  

American defender Matt Besler pushed the Mexican striker off his keeper. Right away that sparked a shoving contest of more than 12 players. Salvadorian referee Joel Aguilar struggled to calm down the brawl quickly. However, after the dust settled Peralta received a yellow card.

After that the American defense got sharp and tough and did not allow El Tri to take an open shot. Every chance Mexico created was contested and ended up either being deflected or the ball was stolen. The USMNT defensive effort took a toll on their energy as their offense went from minimal to non-existence. Each time the Yanks recovered the ball; Mexico’s midfield quickly intercepted a pass and then took off for another attack.

The tempo off the game stayed the same for the rest of regulation. At moments there were spurts of Mexico’s offense running wild on the U.S. defense, but in the final third the play broke down.

However, once extra time began El Tri woke up and went after the tired Americas. They completed their highest percentage of passes in the first period of overtime, 91 percent were on point. The USMNT defensive stand in regulation caught up to them as they only completed 77 percent in the first period.

Mexico came closer and closer of scoring until Peralta broke through at the 96th minute to give El Tri the 2-1 lead. The play started with Herrera sending a long accurate lob to an open Aguilar in the box. The defender then quickly centered the ball to Peralta. The striker peeled back on his run to place himself at the penalty spot.

He bought himself a few second of space and when the ball arrived to him, he blasted the ball into back of the net. The Mexican fans at the Rose Bowl came back to life with that goal. Peralta goal appeared to have broken the backs of the Americans.

However, two substitutes USMNT’s head coach Jurgen Klinsmann made brought a spark to the American team. Twenty-two –year old forward Bobby Wood and 22-year-old midfielder DeAndre Yedlin began to stir up trouble for the Mexican defense.

At the start of the second period of overtime the two youngsters combined to bring back the Americans for the second time. Bradley gave Yedlin the ball near the middle of the field. Immediately the speedster turned around and took off running towards the box. He quickly caught the attention of four Mexican defenders around him putting Yedlin in the middle of a defensive square.

While Yedlin was running with the ball Wood was making a run from the left hand side. He continued to run towards the box, but right when he got to the top of the PK box he sprinted to the empty space on the right hand side.

Yedlin saw him and quickly place the ball in that area. Wood never attempted to control the ball as he was surrounded by three defenders and the Mexican goalie. The striker shot nutmeg the goalie to tie the match 2-2 at the 108th minute.

The American Outlaws and the rest of the U.S. fans rocked the Rose Bowl with his goal. After the goal the USMNT’s offense came to life. The Yanks were moving the ball around like the Mexicans were before.

It seemed the game was destined for penalties. But with just two minutes left in overtime Aguilar delivered the final blow to the American fighting spirit with his volley to win the game 3-2.

“It takes a couple of days to swallow a pill like that, “Klinsmann said in the post-game press conference. “I told the guys to have their heads up because we gave everything we had there. Coming back twice against Mexico and playing openly is impressive, but it was not enough, unfortunately.”

The Americans will have to move on quickly from this gut wrenching defeat since they will be back in action on Tuesday. The Yanks will be facing Costa Rica in a friendly at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ.

As for the Mexicans they will be playing on Tuesday as well. However, they will be facing Panama at the Estadio Nemesio Diez in Toluca, Mexico. That game will be the swan song for interim head coach Ricardo “Tuca” Ferretti.