The United States men's national team and their Mexican counterparts played to a stirring 1-1 draw in front of 30,132 boisterous fans at Lincoln Financial Field on the debut of newly appointed United States coach Jurgen Klinsmann.
In front of a split crowd, Mexico opened the scoring in the first half with a beautiful piece of skill from Oribe Peralta in the 17th minute. Adres Guardado crossed the ball into the box from the right side on a low, driven ball that Peralta delicately touched in with his risen right foot, the ball floating past U.S. keeper Tim Howard.
Mexico exerted their control over the match in the first half, but the United States stormed back in the second half thanks to more offensive tactics and some timely substitutions. The equalizer came in the 73rd minute when Juan Agudelo played a one-touch ball to fellow sub Brek Shea in the left corner. Shea split two defenders, using an impressive blend of speed and strength, then played the ball across the goal to Robbie Rogers, another sub, for an easy tap-in.
Rogers would have been in on goal for a game-winner with less than five minutes remaining in regulation time, but he was taken down by Mexico's Gerardo Torrado on what could have been deemed a red card. Rather, Torrado was given a yellow card and the game ended all-square. Meanwhile, the fans went home happy having seen some end-to-end action in a great atmosphere as Lincoln Financial Field once again proved a worthy stadium for world-class soccer.
"I think we can be satisfied with that performance," said Klinsmann following his first match at the helm. "There were several very good individual performances. It was good to see some young players stepping into this team and being guided by the experienced ones.
"This is what we wanted to see. We wanted them to express themselves and have fun tonight … We wanted to see a performance with energy, with excitement and with the goal that the fans really enjoy their team."
