Dos a Cero, Again
- Updated: April 16, 2015
Twenty-year-old Jordan Morris, a student at Stanford University, scored his first international goal, and 22-year old New England Revolution star Juan Agudelo scored his first U.S. goal since 2011, as the U.S. defeated Mexico 2-0 in a friendly at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The win improves the U.S. Men’s National Team’s record in 2015 to 2-2-1.
In a starting U.S. line-up of mostly domestic based players, Morris was the most notable starter. The Stanford sophomore was the only non-professional in the match and made his first start for the U.S. after brief cameos in previous friendlies. Revolution striker Agudelo, who hadn’t played for the U.S. in over a year, replaced Morris in the 65th minute.
Mexico had the better of the possession in the first half, but both sides struggled to create chances as a poor quality field led to some unpredictable bounces and tricky footing. Unsurprisingly given how the half played out, the teams entered halftime scoreless.
Just four minutes into the second half, however, The U.S. took the lead through Morris after some nice build-up work from Michael Bradley ended with the ball at the feet of Gyassi Zardes. Zardes attempted to play it back to Bradley, but it instead deflected off a Mexican defender and found Morris making a run into the box. Morris ran through the right side of the area before slotting a shot past Cirilo Saucedo to give the U.S. a 1-0 lead.
Substitute Juan Agudelo doubled that advantage in the 72nd minute after Bradley found him making a run down the left flank with a long ball from midfield. Agudelo managed to gain separation from his defender at the top of the box before hitting a low shot past Saucedo that bead him at the near post, making it 2-0.
The U.S. would hold on from there to win. They next return to action with a match against the Netherlands on June 5 in Amsterdam.
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