The USMNT-Mexico Nations League Semifinal Was A Mess

The United States men’s national team are no strangers to playing completely unhinged games against Mexico. That continued to be the case on Friday night in Las Vegas, as the two sides squared off in a Nations League semifinal that went about as poorly as a game can go. That’s especially true for El Tri, which suffered a convincing, 3-0 loss to the Americans on the evening.

Right as the evening kicked off and with a spot in Sunday’s final against Canada was on the line, a bombshell report came by way of Paul Tenorio of The Athletic that changed the vibe around the evening. In a bit of news that was confirmed on Friday morning, the United States will end its search for Gregg Berhalter’s replacement by bringing Berhalter back as manager. While the team was able to make it out of a difficult group at the World Cup and consistently won CONCACAF knockout competitions under Berhalter, his return comes after he was given the all-clear following an investigation into an incident in 1992 where he kicked his then-girlfriend, Rosalind, to whom he is now married.

The incident came to light after Claudio and Danielle Reyna, the parents of current USMNT midfielder Gio Reyna, contacted higher-ups in U.S. Soccer and brought it up while discussing their frustration over their son’s lack of playing time at the World Cup. The whole thing was beyond messy and highlighted a long-standing problem within the Federation in which everyone knows everyone — Claudio was Gregg’s best man in his wedding to Rosalind, Danielle and Rosalind were college roommates, the conversation where this came to light featured a few of Claudio and Gregg’s old national team teammates who were put into positions of prominence within the Federation — and the news of Berhalter’s return to the team coming right as the ball was kicked to start a game against Mexico was, in retrospect, the only way a story this weird could come to a fitting conclusion.

And then, there was the game, which was as unhinged as any USMNT-Mexico game I have ever seen. It isn’t new for the U.S. to beat El Tri, but the size of the gap that appeared to exist between the two sides was rather shocking. Mexico didn’t have some of its top players — its first-choice attacking trio of Tecatito Corona, Raul Jimenez, and Hirving Lozano all did not play — but even beyond that, the Americans just completely played them off the park at Allegiant Stadium, something that was true even before Christian Pulisic opened the scoring by basically wanting a ball more than anyone on Mexico did.

Halftime came and went, and much was made of how the United States emerged from the locker room early, lined up, and waited for Mexico. We saw why right away, as Weston McKennie picked a pass into space for Timothy Weah, who ran onto it, played a ball across the face of the goal, and set Pulisic up for his second of the night.

Things were chippy before this, and after the Americans got a second, the intensity began ramping up. Fouls by both teams got under the skin of the opponents just that little bit more, and in the 69th minute, things finally boiled over.

Folarin Balogun, the high-profile debutant dual-national who chose the United States over England, tracked back to win the ball from César Montes. This didn’t go over well for the Mexican center back, who took out Balogun for an obvious red card that kicked off a fracas between the two teams. McKennie, one of the emotional leaders of the USMNT, emerged from things with a torn up jersey and likewise received a red for putting his hand around a Mexico player’s throat during the scuffle.

Less than 10 minutes later, with both teams playing down a man, a dual-national who picked the United States over Mexico gave the Americans a third. Sergino Dest ran through the Mexican defense and slid in a perfect pass for Ricardo Pepi, who was originally ruled offside but was given the goal after it was reviewed.

It was right around here that things completely went off the rails. On the pitch, this meant that things boiled over yet again, with a number of chippy fouls that eventually led to Dest and Gerardo Arteaga picking up red cards following some extracurriculars in the 85th minute.

Far more concerning, however, was what happened in the stands, as Mexico supporters loudly used an anti-gay chant in the game’s waning minutes. There have been numerous efforts by CONCACAF to try and stamp it out, but unfortunately, it popped up once again and led to the referee stopping the game. Things resumed in stoppage time, where the referee called for 12 additional minutes, but the chant continued and things were called early.

Next up for the United States is the Nations League final against Canada on Sunday evening. While it should be a tense game — particularly with both Dest and McKennie suspended due to their red cards — our hunch is it will not be anything like Thursday night.