The United States and Mexico is one of the great national team soccer rivalries out there and the two teams duked it out on Tuesday night in a big World Cup qualifying match and the Americans came up big to snag the victory in front of a very loud and enthusiastic crowd in Columbus.
The match was tight early and the Americans had some great chances, including a fantastic header from Eddie Johnson that was turned away and goalie Tim Howard was completely on his game as the US pitched a 2-0 shutout to book and official trip to Brazil for 2014. The score was 0-0 heading into the second and Johnson came through with the big goal on a nearly identical play from the one before, while veteran Landon Donovan put in a nice sliding goal on the far side of the neat after a cross got through Clint Dempsey and it got manager Jurgen Klinsmann very excited on the sidelines.
Donovan was all over the place against Mexico, setting up the Johnson goal and doing some dirty work himself and now he has helped the US team make it into the World Cup for the seventh straight time and based on the crowd, soccer is getting more and more popular in America. The team did well in the division heading into further play, as they are now in first with a 5-2-1 record and now they will try to advance along more than the team did in the last World Cup.
The US and Mexico games are usually very intense and physical and this one was no different and now the Mexican team is in big trouble among the groups of nations, as they have just one win so far and two losses with five draws and now there is a chance they could miss making the tournament altogether. Donovan has been going back and forth this summer from playing with the Galaxy and the US team and he looked great on Tuesday and now the team knows it will be going to the Cup.
Donovan is the leading scorer for the US all-time against MExico and Johnson now has shown why he is one of the best players in the country after how he played on Tuesday night. Howard was also fantastic, stopping a steady barrage early in the match, including a diving save that looked like it was 100 percent going in.
