USA vs. Mexico: 'Dos-a-cero'

Landon Donovan #10 celebrates his second half goal against Mexico at Columbus Crew Stadium on September 10, 2013 in Columbus, Ohio. The United States defeated Mexico 2-0. (Getty Images)

However, after the initial dominance, Honduras started to come back. As they grew stronger, Mexico seemed to run out of ideas. After those twenty minutes, which saw Tim Howard having to pull off two very smart saves, the game began to turn.

The US were beginning to catch Mexico on the counter. Then came the huge, flashing danger sign – Omar Gonzales drawing a defender on a corner kick, while Eddie Johnson swung in right behind for a free header for a nice save by the keeper.

Within minutes of the restart for the second half, another corner kick saw Clarence Goodson making the run to carve space for Johnson. The keeper came out this time, leaving Johnson a simple header right down the centre of the goal.

That was it. You could literally see the fight go out of the Mexicans. “Rope-a-dope” had worked. They still had plenty of possession, but hardly ever made inroads in the final third. Lacking size up front, the Mexicans had to make inroads down the middle. They did try tossing a few crosses – child’s play for the 6’5” Gonzales.

Meanwhile, the US possessions were getting more and more threatening. That second goal almost seemed inevitable and everything in its development seemed unavoidable – you could picture it a fraction of a second before it happened.

A dink past the defence by Diskerud, a quick look up and cross along the ground, the feather touch by Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan to finish. “Dos a cero”! One could almost forget the last minute theatrics, a penalty to rub it in at 3-0. The whole nation probably let out a sigh of relief when Dempsey blasted it wide. You don’t want to mess with this kind of karma!

“Dos-a-cero!”