Mexico was motivated and ready to end a streak of futility, but the USA twice took leads before holding off a furious rally from the visitors as the teams settled for a 2-2 draw Wednesday night at Reliant Stadium.
Oguchi Onyewu and Jozy Altidore -- in his first full national team start -- scored first-half goals for the USA, but Jonny Magallon scored on both sides of halftime from set pieces to twice pull Mexico back onto level terms.
Defending a nine-game unbeaten streak versus Mexico on U.S. soil since 2000, USA coach Bob Bradley loaded his lineup with European-based players, but four MLS stars garnered starting slots, led by all-time leading national team scorer Landon Donovan of the LA Galaxy and local favorite Ricardo Clark of Houston Dynamo. New York Red Bulls striker Altidore got the nod to start in only his third national team appearance, alongside Texas native and MLS veteran Clint Dempsey, while Drew Moor of FC Dallas started in defense.
The Lone Star state has been good to the national team, hosting six wins and five draws since 1991, with a 1-0 win against Mexico at Dallas in 2004 and a scoreless draw in 2003, but Sam's Army was again dwarfed in size by the vocal Mexico supporters who filled the crowd of 70,103 in Reliant Stadium with noise and energy.
The match started tentatively, with the highlight being the unveiling of the new U.S. home uniform, the first decent chance coming when Mexico's Fernando Arce headed wide left in the seventh minute off a long cross from the right side by Carlos Vela.
Israel Castro knocked Bobby Convey down on the left sideline to give the USA a free kick by Donovan that was easily cleared by Adolfo Bautista. The Galaxy star had another opportunity as the ball fell to him in the 18-yard box, but his pass to the middle was turned away.
Sloppy passing in a jam-packed midfield gave way to more open play as Altidore collided with Rafael Marquez in the 17th minute to stop a U.S. break, and on the other end of the field goalkeeper Tim Howard felled Carlos Bocanegra as both tried to defend a pinpoint cross in front of goal, and the Fulham defender had to leave the field briefly.
Bautista earned another free kick 30 yards out on the right side, but Pavel Pardo wasted the opportunity with a poor cross from the set piece. Two minutes later Carlos Salcido made a jagged run on the left and challenged Howard with a strong shot, and Antonio De Nigris did the same from the right side moments later.
Bautista's backheel went nowhere but on the rebound De Nigris again took aim, this time blasting it just off Howard's fingers to earn a corner for Mexico.
A Donovan throw to Dempsey gave the USA its first real scoring chance in the 28th minute, but Guillermo Ochoa calmly handled the shot on the turn.
The tenor of the match changed dramatically in the 30th minute. Onyewu's long throw was punched away by Ochoa, but Donovan lobbed the loose ball back across the goal, where Onyewu scored his third national team goal from the left side as he stormed into the box and headed the ball high off the inside of the post.
Driven to increase their tempo, Mexico played more aggressively, and Pavel Pardo's free kick on the right side from 25 yards sailed to Magallon, who got inside his defender and poked the ball into the left side of the net past Howard to even the score at 1-1 in the 35th minute.
Two minutes later Arce had another golden chance to beat Howard from the right side, but the Everton 'keeper snagged the ball, and Salcido was booked for a nasty tackle on Donovan soon after.
In the 40th minute, Altidore screamed a header into the lower right side off a nice cross by Moor to put the USA up 2-1. A quick counter seemed closed down, but the ball was worked to Moor on the right, and his bending cross was met by Altidore with a powerful header that gave Ochoa no chance to stop.
Arce almost evened the score again shortly after the restart, but Howard made a diving stop of his blast from 15 yards.
The USA appeared to have doubled their lead when Dempsey collected a through ball, turned and fired the ball low past Ochoa, but the flag was up for offside.
No changes in personnel were made to begin the second half, and Mexico got off to a quick start with Vela firing at Howard off a pass from Gerardo Torrado. Magallon scored his second goal on the follow-up corner, jabbing it past Howard after poor defending allowed the ball to fall on the left side.
Torrado had yet another chance in the 51st minute, firing high from the left against a beleaguered U.S. defense.
Moor lofted a nifty ball in to Altidore two minutes later, but the youngster pushed it wide left with his head.
Tempers flared in the next minute as Howard was rammed into by De Nigris after he cleared a ball from the area, and the two went at it briefly before cooler heads prevailed. A hard foul by Torrado on Convey did little to help matters at the other end.
In the 69th minute, substitute Juan Carlos Cacho went down on a tackle by Onyewu, who was cautioned, and Mexico was rewarded with a free kick, but Marquez could do nothing with it.
The visitors made repeated ventures into the USA end, but couldn't engineer a winner in the final 10 minutes as the USA went to 9-0-1 against Mexico in home matches since 2000. It was little consolation to the Mexico team that they doubled their goal total from those nine previous matches.
Glen McMicken is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
Match Recap
USA vs. Mexico
February 6, 2008
International Friendly
Reliant Stadium - Houston, Texas
Scoring Summary:
USA - Oguchi Onyewu (Landon Donovan) 30th minute
MEX - Jonny Magallon (Pavel Pardo) 35.
USA - Jozy Altidore (Drew Moor) 40.
MEX - Jonny Magallon (Carlos Salcido) 47.
Lineups:
USA: 1-Tim Howard; 21-Drew Moor, 3-Carlos Bocanegra (capt.), 22-Oguchi Onyewu, 6-Ramiro Corrales; 10-Landon Donovan, 13-Ricardo Clark (Maurice Edu, 79), 4-Michael Bradley (5-Benny Feilhaber, 63), 15-Bobby Convey (7-Eddie Lewis, 70); 9-Jozy Altidore, 8-Clint Dempsey (19-Freddy Adu, 63)
Subs not used: 11-Pat Noonan, 16-Michael Parkhurst, 18-Brad Guzan
Head Coach: Bob Bradley
MEX: 1-Guillermo Ochoa; 2-Jonny Magallon, 3-Carlos Salcido (14-Fausto Pinto, 59) 4-Rafael Marquez (capt.), 5-Israel Castro; 6-Gerado Torrado, 7-Fernando Arce (18-Cesar Villaluz, 90+), 8-Pavel Pardo, 11-Carlos Vela (16-Giovanni Dos Santos, 71); 9-Antonio De Nigris (15-Juan Carlos Cacho, 67), 10-Adolfo Bautista (17-Antonio Naelson, 71)
Subs not used: 12-Luis Michel, 13-Oscar Rojas,
Head Coach: Hugo Sanchez
Stats Summary: USA / MEX
Shots: 3 / 13
Shots on Goal: 2 / 9
Saves: 6 / 1
Corner Kicks: 2 / 4
Fouls: 19 / 13
Offside: 4 / 3
Misconduct Summary:
MEX - Carlos Salcido (caution) 38th minute
USA - Michael Bradley (caution) 45.
USA - Oguchi Onyewu (caution) 69.
USA - Jozy Altidore (caution) 76.
USA - Ramiro Corrales (caution) 89.
MEX - Gerardo Torrado (caution) 90+.
Officials:
Referee: Carlos Batres (GUA)
1st Asst.: Carlos Pastrana (HON)
2nd Asst.: Leonel Leal (CRC)
Fourth Official: Baldomero Toledo (USA)
