(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Young-ho = The U.S. national soccer team achieved a landslide victory over its rival Mexico, led by teenage star Cavan Sullivan (Philadelphia Union), who became the youngest U.S. player to score in an international match.
The United States, ranked 16th in FIFA rankings, won 3-0 against Mexico (ranked 10th) in a friendly match held at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on the 4th, with one player being sent off in the middle of the second half.
As a result, the United States has won three straight games (4-1 win over Peru, 4-2 win over Chile, and 3-0 win over Mexico) in the four-game series from September to October, and will play the final game of the four-game series from September to October against Canada on the 7th, Korean time.
Coach Mauricio Pochettino, who has led the U.S. national team since September 2024, achieved 20 wins (2 draws, 12 losses) in international matches.
In the United States, the performance of teenage players in anticipation of the 2030 FIFA World Cup (jointly hosted by Spain, Portugal, and Morocco) was dazzling.
In the 28th minute of the first half, the United States scored the first, winning goal at the feet of 18-year-old striker Julian Hall, who started as a two-top striker.
When Giovanni Reina's (Strasbourg) cutback to the right of the penalty area hit the goalkeeper, he shook Mexico's goal net with a right-footed shot from in front of the goal area.
Hall, who made a brilliant appearance in the international friendly match against Peru on the 27th of last month by scoring 'debut, debut goal, and debut assist', also tasted a goal in the match against Chile on the 30th of last month, and succeeded in scoring against Mexico on the same day, scoring three consecutive goals in the international match.
Hall became the third player in history to score goals in three consecutive games since his debut for the U.S. national team, following Alexander Ray (1937) and Eddie Johnson (2004).
The United States, which ended the first half 1-0, scored an additional goal in the 17th minute of the second half, and the star was Sullivan.
Sullivan was named the team's second scorer with a lob mid-range shot that intercepted the opposing goalkeeper's pass and immediately passed the goalkeeper's key from midfield.
Sullivan scored his debut goal at the age of 17 years and 5 days in just 3 games of his international debut, breaking the record set by Mattis Albert (Dortmund) in the previous game against Chile for the youngest score by an American player in international matches (17 years, 131 days), breaking the record in just four days.
The United States, which was ahead 2-0, gained a numerical advantage in the 22nd minute of the second half when Mexico's Mateo Chavez (Alkmaar) committed a foul and got nervous, hitting the United States' Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver) in the face and receiving a red card and being sent off.
The United States completed a 3-0 win in the 39th minute of the second half with Malik Tillman (Leverkusen) scoring a key goal after intercepting an opponent's back pass.
