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The United States men’s national team won its third consecutive CONCACAF Nations League final, defeating Mexico 2-0 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Tyler Adams opened the scoring for the U.S. with a long-range thunderbolt just before halftime, making his first start for the U.S. in about a year and a half, while Gio Reyna scored in the semifinals He provided two assists against Jamaica and scored the second goal for the US team.
The game was halted twice later as discriminatory chants were heard.
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The singing continues
As the game reached the 90th minute and the United States led 2-0, fans chanted discriminatory terms at the goal kick, while world governing bodies FIFA, CONCACAF and the Mexican Football Federation continued to Efforts are being made to eliminate this discriminatory term. After each game, a message will be read over the stadium’s public address system in English and Spanish to remind fans of the federation’s policy regarding the slogan.
As the chants continued after U.S. goalkeeper Matt Turner took the goal kick, Canadian referee Drew Fisher finally entered the first step of the anti-discrimination protocol, calling for a pause in play and the offenders being removed from the stadium. The game starts again.
When the game appeared to be over, with some fans even chanting at Mexican goalkeeper Ochoa, Fisher once again paused play rather than ending it – which the referee is allowed to do under protocol.
deeper
Mexican federation continues efforts to combat homophobic slogans
Before Turner took the final shot of the game, 40 seconds after the second timeout, the referee ended the game and fans poured out of the stadium.
CONCACAF, the governing body for North and Central American and Caribbean football, condemned the chants, adding in a statement: “It is extremely disappointing that this issue continues to persist in some competitions. is a question, especially in the context of the next two years. There is a huge opportunity for our region to grow the sport.
“We will continue to urge fans to actively support their teams and to be respectful to their opponents and all those involved in the game.”
Jon Arnold
tyler adams, long distance
After two hamstring surgeries and a lot of rehab and waiting, Tyler Adams is heading to the United States for the first time in 478 days. However, as the midfielder continues to regain fitness, his performance remains limited, with U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter able to play him only 45 minutes.
He used up every last bit of it.
As the first half approached stoppage time, centre-back Tim Ream received an errant corner kick and passed the ball to Tim Weah, who found Weston McKennie further wide. McKennie then passed the ball to Adams about 30 yards from Guillermo Ochoa’s goal. Adams took contact with the ball and fired a rocket with his right foot, through the legs of diving Mexican midfielder Eric Sanchez and past the diving Ochoa for the resounding opening goal.
Tyler Adams in the parking lot are you real? ? ? 💥🚀🔥 pic.twitter.com/ZrK7PoxCST
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) March 25, 2024
Even before his Golazzo, Adams had already made his presence felt in midfield, sealing off the opposition defensive midfielder as the West Ham United man duly received the ball and dropped deep to help the U.S. escape the pressure. Edson Alvarez. Forward Henry Martin tries to win the ball back from the American centre-back.
Still, Adams’ first career goal from outside the penalty area will be what everyone remembers about this performance.
“I’ve been training to throw the ball to him and let him hit it from 30 yards out… I’ve never seen him hit it like that,” Jesse Marsch, Adams’ former club coach, told Paramount+ said.
Not a bad way to get results in a 45-minute game.
Jon Arnold
Raina’s interesting role
It’s fair to say that Giorena loves CONCACAF.
After scoring in the 2021 final and assisting two goals in last year’s final against Canada, Reyna’s goal late in this year’s final doubled the U.S. national team’s advantage.
However, Reyna spent part of the first half holding the ball deep on the left side in an attempt to start the U.S. attack from a deeper position. It’s a similar role to Weston McKennie, who regularly had the ball in the position against England in the World Cup and in several other U.S. games, including the semifinal victory over Jamaica.
Reyna took most of his first-half touches away from the attacking third, and the decision to move him into that role drew criticism at halftime from CBS analysts, including Marsh, who was a candidate for the Team USA coaching job last year. , and former U.S. forward Charlie Davis.
“I just don’t understand why we have all these complicated rotations, and to me they’re putting players in positions where they’re not performing to their best ability,” Marsh said. “We decided to put (Reina) almost in a build-up position as left centre-back and you could see he didn’t even look comfortable… He was making passes that Tyler Adams could easily complete, Tim ·Rem can do it with ease and players who are not as good as him can do it with ease. I think what’s special about Gio is that when you put him on the field and put him in a difficult position, he’s in front of him. There are real options to make meaningful plays.”
The United States controlled the game quite well in the first half, and Adams’ shot finally paid off. Reyna did become more involved in the second half, although Adams’ goal changed Mexico’s performance in the final 45 minutes. Reina’s position further up the pitch allowed him to volley the ball into the bottom corner despite a poor Mexican clearance, making it 2-0.
Gio Reyna. Two to zero. 😤🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/xgJLAA6T2o
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) March 25, 2024
Reyna, making his first competitive start since November 1, 2023, was replaced by Yunus Moussa in the 79th minute as the United States looked to finally close out the game.
Paul Tenorio
The result will determine
For nearly 90 minutes of Thursday’s semifinal against Jamaica, there was a sense that the United States’ Nations League trip would be viewed as a disaster. The team never got over the pain of conceding an early goal in that game and seemed unable to find a potential answer until late in second-half injury time. In most cases, a late equalizer would result in TV commentators tearing up their talking points, only to acknowledge that the chaos of the game marred the spectacle.
Not Clint Dempsey.
“That was a lot of pressure,” Dempsey said minutes after Corey Burke’s own goal. “To be honest, I haven’t really seen the U.S. play well since the last CONCACAF Nations League. Before that, the last time I saw them play well was at the World Cup against England. . I just wasn’t impressed with their performance. They looked tired today. We’re still in it, but man, it was almost a panic stop.”
Sunday’s third straight win in the Nations League continued an impressive run against Mexico in recent years, but those looking for style from this iteration of the Nacional may be disappointed by the window. It’s excusable.
Five years ago, discussions of Berhalter’s approach to the character revolved around a gameplay style; buzzwords like “verticality” were all the rage, and game modes were carefully dissected to track the program’s progression. However, since the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, these trademarks have become less visible. That’s why experts like Dempsey and CBS Sports counterpart Jesse Marsh question Berhalter’s qualifications to lead the team into the Copa America and ultimately the 2026 World Cup.
Such is the life of a second international manager. A cycle ago, poor results would be viewed as “learning moments,” now they are graded on a pass/fail basis. There are (almost) always previous championship performances as a benchmark, and only meeting or exceeding those milestones is enough to get around the sidelines of potential alternatives.
Berhalter’s players continue to support him. After winning the Nations League once again and reasserting their dominance over the region, there is indisputable evidence that the project is on track. At this point, either Berhalter’s team will go on to win – and thus justify a more pragmatic approach than some would like these players to take – or they won’t. Only then is there an open question that needs to be answered.
We’ll check back during the America’s Cup.
Jeff Root
(Photo: Omar Vega/Getty Images)
