2008 Woodie Awards
US Men's Soccer Loses to Mexico, Beats Guatemala in World Cup Qualifying
Men play conservatively in loss to Mexico, bounce back against Guatemala.
Erica Tibbetts
Issue date: 4/8/05 Section: Sports
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World Cup qualifying games start months, even years, before the actual event and teams have to do well in qualifying games to even make it to the main tournament. There are 6 geographical areas, UEFA, Africa, Asia, CONCACAF, Oceania, and CONMEBOL, each containing a number of qualifying groups. In some cases a country must win its group to advance to the tournament, in others the top three or four countries advance. Some groups are smaller than others and easier to win. There are also different qualifying rules. For instance; the top team from Oceania must play the fifth placed team from CONMEBOL. The winner of the play-off advances, while the first four teams in CONMEBOL advance automatically.
The US group is CONCACAF and it consists of Mexico, Guatemala, Trinidad and Tabago, Panema, USA and Costa Rica. The top three teams will advance and the fourth will play an Asian nation for a chance to go to advance. In the past two weeks the US has played in two qualifying games, one against Mexico, and the other against Guatemala.
The March 27 match against Mexico was played in Mexico City and was not a good game for the visiting team. The USA team knew it would be a tough match, Mexico has never lost to the Americans on their home field, Azteca Stadium, and the US hadn't even scored a goal there since 1984. This game wasn't going to be the one to end the Mexicans home field domination, despite the Americans recent 16 game unbeaten streak. The Mexicans were eager to avenge a 2-0 loss that took place during the 2002 World Cup, and they made it look easy. The Americans looked sloppy and had trouble finishing when chances presented themselves.
They played conservatively, apparently having trouble dealing with the stadium's 7200 ft altitude. They played alright for the first half an hour but fell apart in the 15 minutes leading up to half time, and let in two goals.