On a night when former U.S. men’s national team coach Gregg Berhalter was reportedly set to return, Christian Pulisic’s brace led the Americans to a heated, chaotic 3-0 win against Mexico in a semifinal of the CONCACAF Nations League on Thursday in Las Vegas.
Pulisic scored in the 37th and 46th minutes, and Ricardo Pepi made it 3-0 in the 78th.
The U.S. is 4-0-2 vs. Mexico in the past six games. The teams finished with nine players apiece. Mexico’s Cesar Montes was red-carded in the 69th minute for a tackle on Folarin Balogun, and Weston McKennie for the U.S. was sent off two minutes later during the ensuing altercation.
In the 85th minute, Gerardo Arteaga of Mexico and Sergiño Dest of the U.S. were shown red cards.
The margin of victory was the USMNT’s largest ever over Mexico.
McKennie and Dest will not play when the U.S. defends its title vs. Canada on Sunday in Las Vegas. Canada beat Panama 2-0 in the other semifinal Thursday.
Pulisic took advantage of a deflected ball and scored with a left-footed shot from the left side of the box for the 1-0 advantage.
The halftime lead was the USMNT’s first in 13 matches against Mexico. Pulisic quickly doubled the count. Timothy Weah made a long run down the right flank and served a cross to Pulisic in the box. He is the fifth player in USMNT history to score multiple goals against Mexico.
Interim coach B.J. Callaghan became the first U.S. coach to defeat Mexico in his debut since 1934, but how long he remains in that role is in question.
The Athletic was the first to report that Berhalter, who took the U.S. to the Round of 16 at the 2022 World Cup, will be returning once a deal is finalized.
Berhalter’s contract was not renewed after the World Cup in part because of comments he made post-tournament about the behavior of midfielder Gio Reyna during the World Cup. Reyna’s parents then brought up allegations of domestic violence by Berhalter against his girlfriend, now wife, from 30 years ago. U.S. Soccer cleared Berhalter of any wrongdoing, making him eligible to pursue the head coach position.
Reyna started against Mexico on Thursday.
The Berhalter news overshadowed the American debut of Balogun, who chose to play for the U.S. over England and Nigeria. The Brooklyn-born striker, 21, scored 22 goals in 39 games in all competitions for French League 1 club Reims, the most ever for an American in a top-five European league.
— Field Level Media