United States falls to Mexico for first time since 2019

Raúl Jiménez scored a goal and assisted on another to lead Mexico to a 2-0 friendly victory over the United States on Tuesday night in Guadalajara, Mexico.

César Huerta also scored for Mexico, which snapped a seven-match winless run (0-5-2) against the United States dating back to 2019 and handed new U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino his first defeat in his second match in charge.

Mexico’s all-time appearances leader,  Andrés Guardado, received his 182nd and final cap. The 38-year-old Guadalajara native was subbed out in the 19th minute to an emotional ovation from fans in the city where his pro career began with Atlas.

With several U.S. regulars absent — including Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Timothy Weah and Folarin Balogun — the U.S. was outshot 17-5 overall and 5-1 in shots on target. With Pulisic in the fold, the Americans defeated Panama 2-0 in Austin, Texas, on Saturday.

It marked the third time the Americans failed to score this year after a 1-0 friendly defeat vs.  Slovenia in January and a 1-0 loss in its final Copa América clash against Uruguay on July 1.

Jiménez was once considered as crucial a contributor to Mexico as Pulisic is for the U.S. However, his 35th international goal Tuesday was the 33-year-old’s first for his country in more than a year, after he fell out of favor under previous manager Jaime Lozano.

The opening goal came in the 22nd minute, after the U.S. started promisingly despite failing to test goalkeeper Luis Malagón.

As Antonee Robinson tried to tackle the ball from Mexico’s Roberto Alvarado, the United States’ Aidan Morris was whistled for a foul a few yards outside the penalty area.

Jiménez struck the ensuing free kick perfectly, bending it over the U.S. defensive wall and into the top-right corner just beyond the dive of goalkeeper  Matt Turner.

That began a period of Mexican domination that extended through the remainder of the first half and into the second.

Jiménez was again involved when El Tri secured a deserved second goal in the 49th minute.

U.S. defender Tim Ream recovered well initially to take the ball off Jiménez after he had run onto an excellent diagonal ball. However, as Ream attempted to play out of his own end on the dribble, Jiménez kept chasing and tackled the ball away.

It fell in a good position for Huerta, who dodged the challenge of another U.S. defender and drove a low shot between the diving Turner and the left post.

The U.S. saw its all-time record in games vs. El Tri in Mexico fall to 1-24-4.

Information from Reuters was used in this report.