U.S. beats Mexico, 2-0, to qualify for 2014 soccer's World Cup

Los Angeles Times ^ | 09/11/2013 | Kevin Baxter

[SeekAndFind]

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Needing a victory over Mexico and a little help from Honduras to punch its ticket to next summer's World Cup, the U.S. took care of business Tuesday, riding second-half goals by Eddie Johnson and Landon Donovan to a 2-0 victory in front of a raucous 24,584 at Columbus Crew Stadium.

Then the Americans retired to their locker room, where they watched Honduras and Panama play to a 2-2 tie, assuring the U.S. one of CONCACAF's three berths in Brazil. So when the dressing room opened again an hour later, it smelled of champagne.

[stormer]

It’s just a game. I hope you can get over it.

[Moose4]

I’d agree with playing it in Columbus. Soccer is popular there, the Crew draw well, and better a full and rocking 25,000-seater than a half-empty 70,000-seater packed with Mexican fans. That was a smart move.

}:-)4

[Buckeye McFrog]

I saw a bit of the match. Relatively few Mexico fans there. Lots of red, white and blue.

Strangely there were no handshakes or exchanges of jerseys between the opposing players after the game. I thought that was a hallmark of sportsmanship in this game?

[Buckeye McFrog]

What about all those “Fighting Irish” fans?

I have every right to be just as offended by that as some guy on a reservation out in New Mexico someplace is offended by "Redskins" or "Fighting Sioux".

[kevkrom]

Note that Costa Rica, despite drawing their match against Jamaica and slipping to 2nd in the group, also qualified for Brazil with the Honduras-Panama draw.

Mexico sits in 5th (!) currently, and needs a strong last two matches to squeak into 4th for the playoff spot, let alone 3rd to directly qualify.

[BeadCounter]

http://us.soccerway.com/international/nc-america/wc-qualifying-concacaf/2014-brazil/4th-round/r15679/

Mexico hosts Panama October 10, Mexico plays at Costa Rica October 14th. CR will not have a lot to play for. So, I think the Mexico Panama game will be largely decisive.

Panama’s last game is vs. us, USA and we won’t have a lot to play for at Panama.

Honduras will host Costa Rica and play at Jamaica in their last game.

Jamaica all of a sudden is playing fairly well though it looks like they are practically eliminated unless they win their games and Panama and Mexico get draws in all of their games which considering soccer, does seem possible.

[kevkrom]

Panama is playing well, and I could see them snatching a draw at Mexico, especially with the Mexican team reeling. USA already has a berth locked up, so I can see them perhaps playing around with the lineup a bit to try out some different players and combinations, which might give Jamaica and Panama chances to grab points. At the same time, I think USA would like to win the group if possible, so the HON/CRC result may play heavily into how aggressively USA plays at Panama.

As you say, it really comes down to the MEX/PAN result - a win by either pretty much secures 4th or better (I don't think it actually guarantees it... maybe with some help from CRC). A draw leaves it very tenuous - Panama holds the tiebreaker right now on goals scored, with both teams playing against already-qualified teams on the final day. Mexico is on the road, so they've got the tougher path, especially if they've got to worry about goal differential as well as result.

I have a gut feeling it's going to come down to goal differential for those two.

[BeadCounter]

Victor Vucetich is Mexico’s new coach. Sounds like a Mexican of Serbian or more generally, Yugoslavian descent.

http://us.soccerway.com/news/2013/September/12/mexico-confirm-vucetich-appointment/n239653/

Costa Rica and USA may want to win CONCACAF, probably signifying a better seed.

We probably wouldn’t want to get stuck in a group as in 2006 where we had to face Italy, Ghana and Czech Republic. A fairly tough group. We did not advance.

Then 2010 we were in there with England, Algeria and Slovenia, sort of an easy group but the officiating in South Africa was against us and we had to sweat out advancing.