US U20 vs Mini Mexic*nts - CONCACAF final - 6PM

idk

LINK

“It’s not even about lifting the trophy at the end, it’s about playing Mexico and winning that game,” U.S. Under-20 defender Chris Gloster told Goal. “Everyone is ready for that game. All I’ve been hearing since we got here is 'I want a USA-Mexico final.'

“As soon as USA-Mexico steps on the field it’s just so much anger and fight and motivation just to beat each other. Forget about the trophy, or first place, it’s just about beating Mexico.”

“You see what it means with the first team, and it trickles down to all the age groups,” U.S. defender Chris Richards told Goal. “Everybody wants to beat Mexico, and of course everyone knows Dos a Cero, but it doesn’t matter if it’s 2-0, 3-0, 4-0. We have a special type of hate for Mexico and we have to show them we’re the best team in Concacaf.”

Leading the way for El Tri is Club America sensation Diego Lainez, the same player who showed well against the USMNT in the September senior national team friendly between the rivals. Lainez was at the center of controversy in that match after U.S. defender Matt Miazga made fun of his height.

Another New Jersey native and Red Bulls academy product will try to make Lainez’s day a tough one on Wednesday, as Gloster is very likely to be matched up with the speedy Mexican winger.

“I just need to be physical with him,” Gloster said. “If I just keep my head in the game and focus on him and what I need to do, it’s going to be a good matchup. I’m excited for that matchup. I’m not shying away from it just because he’s a good player. I have respect for him, he’s an amazing player, don’t get me wrong, but I’m waiting for the matchup.”

Along with the intriguing individual clashes, the latest USA-Mexico battle has the added subplot of there being several American players with Mexican roots, including Sebastian Soto, Ulysses Llanez and Alex Mendez.

“My Mexican grandparents will be wearing all U.S. gear,’ Soto told Goal. “It’ll mean a lot because you have roots, I still have family living in Mexico, cousins, and even then they’re rooting on the U.S. because I play for them, and that’s a good feeling.”

Mendez has equally strong feelings about facing El Tri.

“I want to play [Mexico] so bad,” he told Goal. “I want to beat them. Diego Lainez, he’s a good player, and he plays for my favorite club in Mexico. I want to give him a little hit and let him know he’s in for a game.”

US looking like the better side thus far, knock on wood

US up 1-0 at half

Back to back champs

Mexico wins the fair play award. Mexican fans proceed to boo the refs.

Great win. We were by far the best team at this tournament. Tab Ramos deserves a lot of credit. It’ll be interesting to see if he is offered an assistant’s job for the senior team. I’m not sure he would even accept that.

Alex Mendez’s performance reminded me a lot of Pulisic’s performance at the Nike friendlies back in 2015 that really put him on the map. He just took over several games. If he can break through at Freiburg, he’ll be in the senior team very quickly at that position.

As a side note, the LA Galaxy continues to be terrible at promoting all of their talented academy kids to the first team. Several players on both these teams came through the academy and Los Dos team, yet will likely never play for the senior team. Epic fail. And it looks like Zlatan is leaving them, too.

A lot of rumors have him heading back to Milan. I can’t blame him for jumping ship after the Galaxy wasted a very productive season from him, and are generally a poorly run organization.

It’s not 100% done yet that he’s leaving, but seems more likely than not at this point.