Hexagonal: USA vs. Mexico Preview

 

The rivalry between the U.S. and Mexico heats up tonight-in Azteca. This comes days after the USMNT’s very cold 1-0 victory over Costa Rica.

The Costa Rican Federation’s complaint to FIFA asking for a rematch of Friday’s qualifying game in Denver was denied by FIFA. FIFA released a statement today saying, “The result of the match played on March 22 stands and is considered as valid.”

The stars and stripes will be playing their toughest match of their qualifying cycle. Last August’s win over El Tri marked the first time the U.S. won in Mexican soil.

Mexico is under pressure to win tonights match after coming off a 2-2 draw last Friday against Honduras and a scoreless draw against Jamaica on home soil. With the pressure on El Tri’s shoulders, the team will come out tonight in their usual 4-2-3-1 formation and come out attacking to avoid another home loss.

With several of the U.S.’s players out with injuries, the team will have to once again make several adjustments to the line-up.

The US will be without midfielder Jermaine Jones and his Snow Fro after he suffered a sprained ankle in Friday’s match. U.S. had announced that Michael Orozco Fiscal has been called in as a replacement for the roster. Orozco Fiscal scored the historic winning goal for the American’s against El Tri in Azteca last August. To fill Jones’s spot in the midfield for the tonight’s match Jurgen Klinsmann has the choice to go with either Kyle Beckman or Maurice Edu.

With Steve Cherundolo, Fabian Johnson, Timmy Chandler all out with injuries young players Omar Gonzalez, Justin Morrow, and Tony Beltran are available to play in back-line.

Klinsmann is likely to go back to a similar 4-2-3-1 as the one played against Costa Rica.

With all of the stories surrounding the USMNT, and with the talks of problems in leadership and in the team, a win is a must tonight not just for qualifying purposes, but to build morale between the U.S. players and grow fan’s trust in Klinsmann.

Here are the rosters for tonight’s game:

 USMNT

GOALKEEPERS: Brad Guzan, Sean Johnson, Nick Rimando

DEFENDERS: Tony Beltran, Matt Besler, Geoff Cameron, Omar Gonzalez, Clarence Goodson Justin Morrow, Michael Orozco Fiscal.

MIDFIELDERS: DaMarcus Beasley, Kyle Beckerman, Michael Bradley, Joe Corona, Brad Davis, Maurice Edu, Sacha Kljestan, Brek Shea, Graham Zusi.

FORWARDS: Jozy Altidore, Terrence Boyd, Clint Dempsey, Herculez Gomez, Eddie Johnson.

EL Tri                                                                                                

GOALKEEPERS: Guillermo Ochoa, Jesús Corona, Alfredo Talavera

DEFENDERS: Severo Meza, Jonny Magallón, Francisco Rodríguez, Héctor Moreno, Hugo Ayala, Diego Reyes, Jorge Torres Nilo), Carlos Slaked

MIDFIELDERS: Jesús Zavala, Gerardo Torrado, Jesús Molina, Héctor Herrera, Javier Aquino, Andrés Guardado, Ángel Reyna

FORWARDS: Giovani dos Santos, Oribe Peralta, Javier Hernández, Omar Bravo, Raúl Jiménez