Raúl Jiménez scored from a free kick in the 22nd minute and assisted César Huerta’s goal in the 49th minute, helping Mexico break its seven-match winless streak against the United States with a 2-0 win on Tuesday night. This match was Mauricio Pochettino’s second as the American coach.
Before this victory, Mexico had suffered five losses and two draws against the U.S. since their last win, a 3-0 victory in September 2019 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The U.S. struggled without many regular players, including Christian Pulisic, and had no shots in the first half for the first time since an exhibition match against Mexico in April 2023 that ended in a 1-1 tie.
Missing from the game were defenders Sergiño Dest, Chris Richards, and Cameron Carter-Vickers; midfielders Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, and Luca de la Torre; and forwards Tim Weah, Folarin Balogun, Gio Reyna, and Ricardo Pepi.
Defender Mark McKenzie was originally set to start but was replaced by Miles Robinson just before the match due to soreness in his left groin.
“Mexico was a little bit better and fully deserves the victory,” Pochettino said. “For us, it is a process. It was a great opportunity for our players to visit a very difficult place to play. We can only improve and learn from this experience.”
Jiménez scored his 34th international goal with a curled shot from over 25 yards past Matt Turner. He assisted the second goal after running onto a pass, having Tim Ream knock the ball away, regaining possession, and passing to Huerta.
Huerta then slid around Robinson and scored from near the penalty spot, marking his third international goal.
Pochettino, who took over last month for Gregg Berhalter, led the U.S. to a 2-0 win over Panama in his first match on Saturday. His first competitive matches will be next month in the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinals, likely against Jamaica. Pochettino has only six international windows left before the 2026 World Cup.
“We need to play more games like this in order to compete,” he said. Javier Aguirre achieved his second win since taking over as Mexico’s coach in August. Mexico had just come off a 2-2 draw against the Spanish club Valencia last weekend.
“I think that the team was aware of the bad performance in Puebla, and they wanted to prove they could play better,” Aguirre said.
Fans at Akron Stadium shouted a homophobic chant that led to fines from FIFA, but referee Keylor Herrera did not stop the game.
Andrés Guardado played his 182nd international match and received a loud ovation when he left the field in the 19th minute, which he mentioned could be his last match for the national team at age 38. He was greeted warmly by every member of the team.
