2002 FIFA World Cup (tm) Finals - Results & Fixtures - Mexico vs United States

17 Jun 2002


Mexico	0 - 2	United States
	(HT: 0 - 1)

Game Details
Venue Jeonju World Cup Stadium	Attendance 36380
Referee Vitor Melo Pereira (POR) Assistant Referees Carlos Matos (POR) Egon Bereuter (AUT)

Game Events
#	Date	Player	Event	Period	Mins	H/A
1	17 Jun 2002	Brian McBride	Goal	First Half	8	A
2	17 Jun 2002	Eddie Pope	Yellow Card	First Half	26	A
3	17 Jun 2002	Ramon Morales	Player Out	First Half	28	H
4	17 Jun 2002	Luis Hernandez	Substitute In	First Half	28	H
5	17 Jun 2002	Manuel Vidrio	Yellow Card	First Half	37	H
6	17 Jun 2002	Manuel Vidrio	Player Out	Second Half	1	H
7	17 Jun 2002	Sigifredo Mercado	Substitute In	Second Half	1	H
8	17 Jun 2002	Pablo Mastroeni	Yellow Card	Second Half	2	A
9	17 Jun 2002	Josh Wolff	Yellow Card	Second Half	5	A
10	17 Jun 2002	Gregg Berhalter	Yellow Card	Second Half	8	A
11	17 Jun 2002	Josh Wolff	Player Out	Second Half	14	A
12	17 Jun 2002	Earnie Stewart	Substitute In	Second Half	14	A
13	17 Jun 2002	Landon Donovan	Goal	Second Half	20	A
14	17 Jun 2002	Luis Hernandez	Yellow Card	Second Half	22	H
15	17 Jun 2002	Cuauhtemoc Blanco	Yellow Card	Second Half	25	H
16	17 Jun 2002	Gerardo Torrado	Player Out	Second Half	33	H
17	17 Jun 2002	Alberto Garcia Aspe	Substitute In	Second Half	33	H
18	17 Jun 2002	Brian McBride	Player Out	Second Half	34	A
19	17 Jun 2002	Cobi Jones	Substitute In	Second Half	34	A
20	17 Jun 2002	Alberto Garcia Aspe	Yellow Card	Second Half	36	H
21	17 Jun 2002	Brad Friedel	Yellow Card	Second Half	38	A
22	17 Jun 2002	Salvador Carmona	Yellow Card	Second Half	39	H
23	17 Jun 2002	Rafael Marquez	Red Card	Second Half	43	H
24	17 Jun 2002	Pablo Mastroeni	Player Out	Second Half	47	A
25	17 Jun 2002	Carlos Llamosa	Substitute In	Second Half	47	A

Match report

The United States celebrated the greatest day in their footballing history by beating Mexico 2-0 to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup. Goals from Brian McBride and Landon Donovan sent the unfancied Americans into a last-eight meeting against Germany in Ulsan on Friday. Aside from a semi-final appearance at the first ever finals in 1930, Bruce Arena's team have broken new ground for a nation where 'soccer' is a poor relation to basketball, baseball and gridiron. The result caps a remarkable turnaround from the last finals in France when the Americans finished with the worst record in the tournament.
Arena said he was delighted with the way his team had bounced back after their 3-1 defeat to Poland in their final first-phase match on Friday when they still qualified thanks to South Korea's defeat of Portugal.
"It was tough getting our guys back from the match on Friday. Obviously after losing to Poland we only had a short time to recover.
"We had to go with a game plan that would allow our guys to endure over 90 to 95 minutes.
"Our guys left everything on the field today. I'm real proud of them."
Arena said the yellow-card strewn match was a result of the regional rivalry between the teams.
"It's a rivalry, we know each other - there's been a lot of bad blood over the years but when the game is over we're friends again.
"Mexico has a great team but I'm proud of our guys, it's a great day for U.S. soccer."
The United States took the lead against their North American rivals in their first attack of this second-round match. Captain Claudio Reyna raced to the byline and found Josh Wolff who pulled the ball back for McBride to fire past Mexican goalkeeper Oscar Perez after eight minutes. The second was created in the second-half by Eddie Lewis who roared down the left wing and crossed to 20-year-old Donovan, sprinting into the area to nod home. Two goals down after 65 minutes, Mexico were increasingly frustrated at their inability to beat veteran American goalkeeper Brad Friedel. Their frustration boiled over when captain Rafael Marquez was sent off for headbutting Cobi Jones in an aerial challenge at the end of a bad-tempered match. As Mexico pushed early in the second half, Friedel palmed a Braulio Luna free-kick on to crossbar and no Mexican player was able to poke the ball home from the resulting corner. Mexico appealed in vain for a penalty when John O'Brien used a fist to prevent the ball reaching Blanco's head. With 15 minutes remaining, Friedel pushed Salvador Carmona's shot over. The goalkeeper who crucially saved a penalty against co-hosts South Korea in the first phase was just as effective in the first half. He denied Cuauhtemoc Blanco in the 35th minute. Friedel had punched a cross away, only to have it fired back at him by Blanco but the 31-year-old keeper, who plays for Blackburn in the English Premiership, was able to push it away.
Within two minutes, Mexico's diminutive keeper stopped with his legs from the ever-threatening Wolff as the States went in search of a second goal. Mexico had other chances to pull level, notably when Gerardo Torrado hit a powerful shot that Friedel had to dive to push away and Ramon Morales drove a low shot narrowly wide of the post. After half an hour, Mexico injected new urgency into their attack by replacing Morales with prolific striker Luis Hernandez. Hernandez's first telling contribution was to square across the American penalty area, only to have it cleared by the US defence. The match deteriorated into a succession of niggling fouls and yellow cards, culminating in the sending-off of Marquez.

(courtesy of dailysoccer)




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Page created by Christakis Ioannou on 17 June 2002 14:25:18.