The US-Mexico rivalry pervades every level of the sport, and even though it only happens at the Under-23 level when the Olympics roll around, it is just as passionate for those sides.
The US and Mexico will meet in a U-23 friendly on Wednesday night at StubHub Center (11 pm ET, UniMás, UDN) as both teams prepare for the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship, to be played Oct. 1-13 in the United States. (Venues are still unspecified.)
The top two nations at the qualifying tournament will earn automatic berths in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, while the third-place team will go into a playoff against Colombia, who finished scond in South America's qualifying tournament.
While the result of Wednesday's friendly will mean little, it is a good litmus test for Andreas Herzog's US squad -- Mexico are the defending Olympic champions, and the US failed to qualify. It could also serve as a pre-amble to higher-profile meetings with even more intensity later this year.
The rivalry, as you might expect, has had plenty of intensity already. Since 1992, when Olympic soccer was first designated as an Under-23 tournament, the two nations have met three times in qualifying, once in the Pan-American Games, plus two friendlies.
Arguably, the USA-Mexico rivalry took a huge leap forward during qualifying for the 1992 Olympics, when the US went a perfect 4-0-0 in the final group. That run featured two wins against Mexico, including the first-ever win for a US national team -- at any level -- in a competitive match in Mexico.
They won, 2-1, in Mexico City in March 1992, thanks to goals from current Seattle Sounders sporting director Chris Henderson and longtime Columbus Crew player and assistant coach Mike Lapper. The latter goal was assisted by current New York City FC technical director Claudio Reyna.
The Americans then won again a month later, 3-0, in Bethlehem, Pa., with another goal from Henderson and two from scoring sensation Steve Snow. The game also saw two Mexican players shown red cards in the final 10 minutes.
"The performance of this team is sending a message to the rest of the world that the sleeping giant is beginning to stir," U.S. Soccer's then-Secretary General, Hank Steinbrecher, said after the second win.
At the time, Mexican midfielder Jorge Castaneda acknowledged, "It is different playing the United States now," and it has been different ever since.
The next time they met in qualifying was in 2004 in Guadalajara, Mexico. With just two spots available to CONCACAF teams, the qualifying tournament's semifinals were win-or-go-home.
The talented US squad included the likes of DaMarcus Beasley, Kyle Beckerman, Nat Borchers, Bobby Convey, Brad Davis, Landon Donovan, Eddie Gaven, Eddie Johnson, Chad Marshall, and Oguchi Onyewu. They rolled through their group with three wins.
Mexico, meanwhile, finished second in their group after being held to a 1-1 tie by Costa Rica. That set up a semifinal meeting against the US, and in front of roughly 60,000 fans, the hosts rolled to a 4-0 win.
USA-MEXICO U-23 matches since 1992:
- March 25, 1992: Mexico 1, USA 2 (Olympic qualifying, Mexico City)
MEX: Pedro Pineida 55'; US: Chris Henderson 62', Mike Lapper 74'
- April 26, 1992: USA 3, Mexico 0 (Olympic qualifying, Bethlehem, Pa.)
US: Steve Snow 31', 78', Chris Henderson 35'
- March 7, 1996: USA 2, Mexico 3 (friendly, Fullerton, Calif.)
USA: Imad Baba 20', AJ Wood 35'; MEX: Cuauhtemoc Blanco 12'; Jesus Arellano 13', Manuel Sol 61'
- August 4, 1999: Mexico 4, USA 0 (Pan-American Games, Winnipeg)
MEX: Alvaro Ortiz 7', 19', Emilio Mora, 43', Mendoza 84'
- May 14, 2003: Mexico 1, USA 3 (friendly, Guadalajara)
MEX: Juan Pablo Garcia 38'; US: Kelly Gray 11', Alecko Eskandarian 75', David Testo 92'
- Feb. 10, 2004: Mexico 4, USA 0 (Olympic qualifying, Guadalajara)
MEX: Rafa Márquez 26', 55', Diego Martínez 28', Ismael Iñiguez 91'
- Feb. 29, 2012: USA 2, Mexico 0 (friendly, Frisco, Texas)
US: Juan Agudelo 35', Mix Diskerud 36'
