Mexico Beats Iceland 3-0 in 2018 International Friendly

Mexico earned a 3-0 friendly win over Iceland at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Friday night. 

Marco Fabian and Miguel Layun were the goalscorers for El Tri, with Layun finding the back of the net on two occasions. Jesus Corona made five saves to preserve a clean sheet.

While this was a friendly, the match carried some significance for both countries as a warm-up for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. After Friday night, Mexico only has four more matches before it opens the tournament against Germany, while Iceland has three friendlies standing between it and Argentina in the group stage.

Those fixtures are particularly important for Iceland coach Heimir Hallgrimsson. He's without midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson due to a knee injury, so the next couple of months will be an opportunity to experiment for the possibility of the Everton playmaker missing the World Cup.

Sigurdsson's absence did little to stymie the Iceland attack. Iceland had six shots in the first half, with three shots on target. The team wasn't bombing forward at every opportunity but posed a consistent threat to Mexico on the counter-attack.

Mexico would've trailed entering the dressing room at halftime were it not for Corona. The Cruz Azul shot-stopper was particularly vital in the 23rd minute when he denied Iceland on three shots from close range. Two minutes later, Corona's services were required again to save a shot from Johann Berg Gudmundsson.

Fabian broke the deadlock on an indirect free kick from just outside the 18-yard box. Layun subtly passed over to Raul Jimenez, who laid the ball off for Fabian to unleash a right-footed effort past a diving Runar Runarsson. Runarsson got a fingertip to the shot but was unable to keep it out.

ESPN FC's Tom Marshall thought Fabian relished his goal:

Generally speaking, Mexico struggled to break down an organized Iceland midfield and defense. ESPN FC's Eric Gomez noted how the sheer volume of players in the middle of the pitch limited the amount of available space:

Layun doubled Mexico's lead against the run of the play somewhat in the 64th minute.

The same problems from the first half carried over to the second for El Tri, and coach Juan Carlos Osorio's four substitutions early into the half halted what fluidity Mexico had built to that point.

One of those substitutes played a pivotal role in the goal, though, as Hirving Lozano's pass found an on-rushing Layun. The Sevilla midfielder still had a difficult finish, and he placed his shot perfectly at the far post.

Fox Soccer's Stuart Holden thought it was a well-worked goal for Mexico:

Iceland nearly got a goal back in the 76th minute. Vidar Kjartansson's shot deflected off the left post. Kjartansson then scored what appeared to be a goal a minute later, but the linesman ruled him offside. On subsequent replays, Kjartansson looked to have stayed onside.

That sequence summed up Iceland's night. Iceland didn't play poorly, yet things didn't break in its favor.

An Iceland mistake, though, led to Layun's second goal in the second minute of stoppage time. Runarsson got himself well out of position as he looked for Layun to cross the ball into the box. Instead, Layun deftly curled the ball over Runarsson and under the crossbar.

A 3-0 win over Iceland is solid regardless of the circumstances. With that said, this was far from a perfect performance from Mexico. In particular, Osorio will want to see his side more assured in possession. El Tri can ill afford to be as sloppy at the back, either, come World Cup time.

Mexico's next friendly comes Tuesday against Croatia at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The matchup will be a great test of El Tri's attack, as Croatia surrendered just four goals through their World Cup qualifying campaign.

Iceland will return to the pitch Tuesday as well when it heads to Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, to play Peru.