The United States men’s national soccer team (USMNT) emerged Thursday as 3-0 winners in a torrid match with archrivals Mexico replete with brawls, four red cards, and beer projectiles.
The U.S. team began the heated CONCACAF Nations League semifinal match with promise as Captain Christian Pulisic shrugged off the Mexican defense and rounded goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa only to chip over the bar in the 23rd minute.
The first yellow card of the game went to Mexico‘s Uriel Antuna for hauling down Pulisic in the 36th minute on the left flank in a tackle that presaged the battles to come.
The first goal of the match was for the USMNT as Pulisic pounced on a loose ball in the 18-yard box following a yellow-card tackle on Gio Reyna and drove home a low shot in the 37th minute. Pulisic again finished off at close range within the first minute of the second half having received a right-wing cross from Tim Weah, bagging a brace. However, he was denied a hattrick when Ochoa caught his header in the 52nd minute. (RELATED: United States Gloriously Steals Folarin Balogun From England)
A foul on Gio Reyna earned Israel Reyes Mexico’s second yellow card. An ensuing skirmish saw USMNT’s Miles Robinson and Mexico’s Santiago Gimenez earn a yellow card apiece. Mexico’s César Montes earned the first red card for a cynical tackle on USMNT’s Folarin Balogun. The tackle descended into a brawl that ended with USMNT’s Weston McKennie’s shirt ripped off and McKinnie sent off with the second red card of the match in the 71st minute as fans pelted players with beer cups.
Mexico’s best chance on target, in the 76th minute, forced a fine save from U.S. goalkeeper Matt Turner. USMNT’s Sergiño Dest slalomed through Mexican players to lay a pass for 74th-minute substitute Ricardo Pepi, who rounded Ochoa and scored the third goal for the US team in the 78th minute. A tackle on Dest by Edson Álvarez saw Álvarez booked yellow, and in the resulting major scuffle, Dest and Mexico’s Gerardo Arteaga bagged red cards, reducing both sides to nine men. USMNT’s Chris Richards and Mexico’s Ochoa saw yellow as well. More beer projectiles rained down from the stands onto the players.
CHAOS DURING USA VS. MEXICO MATCH 😳
(via @CBSSportsGolazo)pic.twitter.com/mtRVTh1J6k
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 16, 2023
The game stumbled on, through the brawls and the beer. However, after anti-gay slurs poured forth from the Mexican stands, the game shuddered to a premature end in the 97th minute with five minutes of stoppage time to spare. The USMNT qualified for the June 18 CONCACAF final against Canada but at considerable cost to the team, with McKennie and Dest disqualified from the final.
Mexican fans have been hit with sanctions in recent years for what seems to be a tradition of chanting anti-gay slurs, per Yahoo! Sports. However, as the fractious CONCACAF semifinal game showed, neither sanctions from FIFA nor appeals from the Mexican team for respectful behavior toward the opposition have tamed the rowdy Mexican fans.
“It was a mess,” Pulisic said after the game, according to a separate Yahoo! Sports report. You can watch the highlights of the match here.