US-Mexico Game Draws Near; Get Your Programs Here!

February 4th, 2007 | by: Connor Fabiano | Comments Off

With Wednesday evening fast approaching, the US-Mexico game is shaping up to be a border clash to remember.

Because of a FIFA International Fixture Date, both teams have called in big-name players to appear on the pitch. Mexico will field Nery Castillo and the United States are flying four Americans across the Atlantic to face the Red, White, and Blue’s greatest rivals.

Clint Dempsey, Carlos Bocanegra, Bobby Convey, and Tim Howard arrive in Arizona Sunday (hopefully they’re Tivoing the Super Bowl) and will join the sixteen other MLS-based players that same day. The 20-man roster, as announced Friday, will try to build upon the 2-0 victory in 2005 that guaranteed the US’s place in Germany last summer.

Seven of the American players have prior experience with Mexico. Landon Donovan has played seven games against them and scored two goals, one of which came in the 2002 World Cup Round of 16 victory in South Korea. Pablo Mastroeni has played in the last five games against the Mexicans. Carlos Bocanegra and Bobby Convey have each appeared twice, while Albright, Howard, Johnson, and Twellman have each played one time in the rivalry.

In addition to seeing some American and Mexican stars show off their ability at University of Phoenix stadium this Wednesday, two new coaches will go head-to-head for the first time. This will be Hugo Sanchez’s first game as manager of the Mexican side and Bob Bradley’s second with the Americans. For both, this will most likely be the most important friendly of the year.

The overall US-Mexico record is 12-29-10, dating from a series that began in May of 1934. However, the Americans have gone 10-6-8 on their home turf, and haven’t given up a single goal on home soil this decade.

Ticket sales passed 40,000 on Thursday and are still available if you want to make that last minute trip over to Glendale. If you’re already planning on going, ussoccer.com encourages you to “arrive early,” and “pick up tickets in advance.”

As if it isn’t already in your calendar, the kick off time is 7:25 p.m. MT (9:25 p.m. ET) this Wednesday, February 7. ESPN2 and Univision will begin live coverage of the match beginning at 7 p.m. MT (9 p.m. ET). The game can also be followed on ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker and will be available on the Futbol de Primera radio network.

“After weeks of getting to know this group and trying to develop an understanding of how we want to work together as a group every day, everyone is looking forward to the chance to finally play in one of the great rivalries in our sport,” said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley. “As we look towards the tournaments this summer, this is an important opportunity to get these players experience and evaluate them at the same time.”

Training began in early January and Bradley had a good start in Carson, CA with a 3-1 victory over Denmark. Now here come Mexico.