Mexico vs. Bolivia: Score, Recap and Post-Match Reaction

With just five goals in its last seven matches, including a 0-0 draw against Chile on Saturday, Mexico was hoping for a major confidence boost against Bolivia Tuesday night. 

El Tri got a hard-fought match instead, but the young squad was able to earn the 1-0 victory at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado, thanks to Miguel Layun's first-half goal and a solid defensive performance in the second half. 

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FT: Mexico 1, Bolivia 0. Layun's 18th-minute strike helps El Tri win in Colorado.

— B/R Football (@br_football) September 10, 2014"

Mexico came out a bit sluggish in the first half, but its first legitimate chance resulted in a goal. 

Erick "Cubo" Torres had his shot stoned by Daniel Vaca after a nice 1-2 combination with Javier Orozco in the 18th minute, but the save bounced to Layun, who made no mistake and crushed it home.

It was already the third goal in an El Tri shirt for Layun (he made his first appearance in 2013), who was the most dangerous player on the pitch all night and continues to impress with his attacking ability from the left-back position, but as ESPN's Cesar Hernandez noted, it was an encouraging bit of play from the Chivas USA star:

Making his debut with the senior team, the 21-year-old looked comfortable up front and got a lot of touches around the box. However, as Fox Sports' Kyle McCarthy advised, he would have done better to be a little more aggressive: 

Mexico, as a whole, dominated the run of play following the goal, but Miguel Herrera's squad left a little bit to be desired with its final product in the final third, struggling to put a slew of chances on target, while the ones it did were blocked nicely by Vaca.  

Fox Soccer Trax on Twitter summarized the opening 45 minutes:

The script was somewhat flipped in the second half, as Bolivia controlled a majority of the possession. But while La Verde looked much improved and held the ball for longer stretches, it was again Mexico with the better chances. 

Best of those came in the 87th minute when Andres Guardado hit a rocket from the top of the box that easily beat Vaca but banged off the post. 

Bolivia returned the favor by hitting the post just moments after defender Ramiro Ballivian was handed a red card for making contact with the referee, but Mexico was able to hold on for the victory. It wasn't always pretty, but Mexico was undoubtedly the better side on the night:

El Tri will get a month off before a pair of friendlies in October against Honduras and Panama, but the larger focus goes far beyond that.

Copa America 2015 looms next June, while the Gold Cup—where Mexico will likely once again renew its rivalry with the United States—starts just days after the end of that. As such, Herrera must spend the next several months building up his squad's depth. 

"We need two national teams that are good and that are competitive," he said, via MLSsoccer.com's Simon Borg. 

We got a glimpse of some of that depth from several players Tuesday night, but others didn't fully take advantage of the opportunity, as Mexico got a positive result yet still clearly has room to improve as a team.