PASADENA, Calif. Sporting Alert — Paul Aguilar scored a world-class goal to lift Mexico to a 3-2 victory over the United States in the CONCACAF Cup at Rose Bowl on Saturday night.
Both teams traded goals throughout the contest, but it was El Tri who had the final say in the end.
With the game locked at 2-2 in extra time, Aguilar scored Mexico’s second goal of the period – a stunning one-time volley finish in the 118th minute to break the hearts of the Americans and head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who looked like a worried man.
Javier Hernandez gave Mexico the lead in the 10th minute, but defender Geoff Cameron headed in an equaliser for the U.S. in the 16th minute.
Mexico went in front again, this time through Oribe Peralta, but as expected, the Stars and Stripes fought back and even things up at 2-2 with a lovely finish from substitute Bobby Wood.
In the end, it took a wonderful finish from Aguilar to seal the win and both American captain Michael Bradley and Klinsmann said it was tough to take.
They also both praised the winning goal by Aguilar.
“Still hard to take,” Bradley said after the defeat. “We put everything in it, but credit to Mexico, they scored a great goal in the end.”
“It was an open game until the very end,” Klinsmann added. “The second half belonged to Mexico, so congratulations to them.”
The victory sees Mexico earning a place in the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia.
Klinsmann says there will be consequences if the United States loses this game, which it did, so there will certainly be changes in the future.
USA was losing to Mexico for the first time under Klinsmann in seven games, while the Stars and Stripes were losing to El Tri for the first time since the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup final.
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