Mexico down United States of America 3-2 to book Confederations Cup spot

Finally, with two minutes to go and the match seemingly headed to penalties, Paul Aguilar struck a stunning volley past USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan into the bottom left corner of the net.

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.

United States head coach Jurgen Klinsmann reacts to his side’s 3-2 defeat by Mexico, comments on his players’ performance and responds to comments made about the future of his job.

“It means that you have to work even harder than you ever did before in order to turn the results around and to make things happen”.

Oribe Peralta had put Mexico ahead 2-1 when he scored in the sixth minute of extra time, but Bobby Wood countered with a goal in the 18th minute of extra time. “The entire Rose Bowl erupted”.

It’s been a while since I can rememeber a match where a stadium swelled with feeling from start to finish, hitting every note of the emotional register on the way.

Just like after Mexico’s first two goals, the score set off boisterous flag-raising cheering from much of the crowd. “Unfortunately that didn’t work out”.

Most importantly, the win qualifies the Mexican team for the Confederations Cup, a prestigious eight-team tournament prior to the 2018 World Cup in Russian Federation. Athletic bursts from wide players and audacious dribbling from Jermaine Jones seemed to provide a few of the only spark available in a match where the Mexicans denied them any oxygen.

The loss ended the U.S.’ six-game unbeaten streak against Mexico.

10th Minute – Mexico strikes first with this Chicharito goal off a lovely play that completely shook the US defenders out of their boots.

Early in extra time, Peralta slipped into the middle and banged a loose ball between Cameron’s legs.

While Saturday’s matches certainly point out the flaws of U.S. Soccer it is not the end of the world.

Wood is building a remarkable history of dramatic late goals after scoring winners in exhibitions against Germany and the Netherlands in June.

Mexico held far more possession and created better, if not more, scoring opportunities in the first 45 minutes, deftly moving the ball around above the US box and penetrating primarily from little chips and crosses. The youngsters must beat Canada on Tuesday and then win a playoff with Colombia just to make the Rio field. “That will be a lot of conversations coming up the next couple days”.

Mexico earns back to back tickets to the Federation Internationale de Football Association Confederations Cup. With the American under-23 Olympic team earlier in the day missing out on direct qualification to the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro next summer, the national team program is at a nadir in the era of Klinsmann – who doubles as technical director.

It was the first time the two rivals had met in the Rose Bowl since the 2011 Gold Cup final.

“And if not everybody likes you, that’s fine”.

Does U.S. Soccer need to fire Klinsmann?

Klinsmann made a big show of saying the Gold Cup mattered, and qualifying for the Confederations Cup was imperative.