USMNT vs. Mexico: What Did We Learn About the Start of the Jurgen Klinsmann Era?

Just under two weeks ago, former German player and coach Jurgen Klinsmann was named the head coach of the United States men's national team.  He only had two weeks to prepare for the upcoming friendly against Mexico, easily the United State's biggest rival.  On August 10th in Philadelphia, the two teams met in a rematch of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final.  Being the rivals the two sides are, the match looked to be a smashing one.

Jurgen Klinsmann had a radically changed side from the one Bob Bradley put out a month and a half ago, including players whom we hadn't seen since the World Cup like Edson Buddle and Jose Torres, along with some new defensive players like Kyle Beckerman and Edgar Castillo.

The Mexican side was without some key attacking players, with Chicharito out with a concussion and Gio Dos Santos being left on the bench.

The first half was almost always dominated by Mexico.  They controlled the run of play and from the get go had the United States chasing them around the pitch.  Surprisingly, they couldn't create many clear cut chances.  In the 17th minute, Oribe Peralta turned a half-chance into a goal with a spectacular volley from a Dos Santos cross while being tightly marked.  Other than that, the Mexicans couldn't find the back of the net by the end of the first half.  

By the end of the first 45, the only yellow card handed out was to Efrain Jaurez for a challenge on Kyle Beckerman.  All in all, I thought brandishing a card was a bit hard.

As the second half got underway, the United States slowly improved in possession and getting forward with the ball.  The US recorded their first shot on goal (and shot in general) in the 57th minute when Carlos Bocanegra directed a header toward goal and goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, who made a great save.  Close to the 60th minute, Juan Agudelo came on for the almost non existent Edson Buddle and Brek Shea came on for the very disappointing Jermaine Jones.  These subs turned out to be very good ones.  

The US finally got on the scoresheet in the 73rd minute.  Juan Agudelo flicked the ball to Brek Shea off of a corner, who fought off a defender and made a sharp low cross across the face of the goal to a waiting Robbie Rogers (who had been subbed on only a minute prior) and tapped home into an empty net.  

Following that, the momentum really shifted to the US.  They got many counter attacking chances and shots.  They had two penalty appeals, one of which really should have been a spot kick.  

Then the big chance came.  It was the 86th minute.  Robbie Rogers sped past a defender and took a touch on a through ball that had been laid out for him.  When he was clearly past Torrado, the defender practically yanked his arm off and made him walk off the pitch.  And what does Torrado get for stopping a clear goal scoring opportunity?  A yellow card.  At this point I was screaming at the ref for about five minutes (I wonder if he heard me?) and started to wonder if this was the hardest booking I had ever seen in my life.  

Throughout the remaining minutes of the match, the Americans looked threatening but couldn't get a clear chance to grab a late winner.

Overall, I think a draw was a decent result.  The Gold Cup Final was much more important, but this is still a big rivalry and hey, the USMNT didn't lose, right?  The Mexicans probably deserved to score more than that lone goal in the first half, so I think Klinsmann will be happy.  Brek Shea, who has always seemed to disappoint on the national team, was absolutely fantastic.  When Donovan was given freedom, he played like a true No. 10.  Robbie Rogers had the smell for goals and Juan Agudelo was able to take players on.  The only real change I would make is to not keep the forward so isolated form the rest of the team.  Buddle rarely touched the ball, and when he did, he had little to no support!