19 July, 2017
Omar Gonzalez and Michael Bradley preview the United States' upcoming quarter-final match with El Salvador.
Playing without stars such as Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez, Mexico turned to its younger talent and they produced in front of a partisan crowd of 44,232.
Four of the six players that met up with the squad have long-established digits with the U.S. MNT: captain Michael Bradley wears No. 4, Tim Howard is No. 1, Clint Dempsey dons No. 8 and Jozy Altidore is known as USA's No. 17. After their win over Nicaragua, USMNT head coach Bruce Arena decided to bring back his veterans (probably the plan all along) for the knockout round.
But a group that includes Houston Dynamo trio of Alberth Elis, Romell Quioto and Boniek Garcia, as well as FC Dallas' Maynor Figueroa, have reached the knockout phase despite failing to score in the tournament - at least on the actual field of play.
Nagbe will miss the Timbers Wednesday home match against Real Salt Lake. One of the players to watch for El Salvador would be San Jose Earthquakes Darwin Ceren.
Hernandez squandered their next opportunity, stepping past his defender before firing straight at Room from inside the area, and Jair Pereira also hit the crossbar.
The US has only suffered one loss against El Salvador in the team's history, a lone defeat which occurred fully 25 years ago in February 1992.
Want your voice heard? "The last couple of days in camp has been good". "I think the gap has closed a little bit, which is good for CONCACAF and good for the tournament". Certainly we're playing this thing to win.
After dominating the opening minutes, Mexico escaped two early scares by Curacao's Gino Van Kessel.
On the other side of the bracket, Mexico is likely to reach the final.
"I think they've played some of the best football in the Gold Cup this far", Arena said. "This is called knockout rounds now". (For me, it was in that order).
QF2: USA vs. El Salvador, FS1, Univision, 9 pm ET. In that regard, obviously we have one singular focus. So we have to continue to raise our level as the tournament goes on, but that's a challenge we're excited for.
Costa Rica's Bryan Ruiz is a dynamic attacker who would look quite sharp in blue and gold.
They also picked up seven points in the group stage, including a creditable 1-1 draw with the United States, but were eventually bumped out of top spot due to goals scored.
Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio celebrated Alvarez's goal from a suite in the Alamodome while serving the third of a six-match suspension from FIFA for his actions toward officials during a Confederations Cup match.
So Altidore will arrive with the team healthy for his first major tournament since the 2011 Gold Cup. Then again, perhaps a look at the club form of Honduras' MLS contingent could've suggested this would be a problem. The Costa Rica defence must be alert to shut him down, while their attacking players will need to be inventive and incisive to apply sustained pressure to the back four.
But Mexico finally made sure of the result in the 91st minute, substitute Alvarez tucking a finish into the bottom corner for his first international goal.
"On the goal, I was just looking for the space". Some of you have even followed through with subscriptions, which is especially gratifying.
