They did not just beat Mexico. They embarrassed them in the desert, with a birthday boy and a goalkeeper who decided to play midfield.
Saturday night at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, the USMNT won 3–0. Julian Hall, 18, opened it in the 28th minute. Cavan Sullivan, five days past his 17th birthday, made it 2–0 in the 63rd by intercepting a pass from Mexico keeper Raúl Rangel and chipping him from 30 yards into an empty net. Malik Tillman finished it late. Mexico ended the night with 10 men. Sullivan’s goal made him the youngest scorer in USMNT history: 17 years and 5 days. The record he broke belonged to Mathis Albert, who had set it four days earlier against Chile. Albert had just taken it from Christian Pulisic, who had held it since 2016. Two teenagers retired a decade-old mark in the same week, and the second one did it against El Tri.
This was the third game of the window, and the third win. Peru went down 4–1 in Orlando. Chile went down 4–2 in St. Louis. Mexico made it eleven goals in nine days. Mauricio Pochettino left most of the World Cup roster at home — Pulisic and Weston McKennie were out, both starting strikers were unavailable — and the kids still ran the CONCACAF clásico. Mexico, under new coach Rafael Márquez, had drawn Colombia and Peru 1–1 earlier in the break. On Saturday the mistakes did the scoring. A back pass that never arrived. A goalkeeper stranded 30 yards from his line. A late red card. Tillman, the Bayer Leverkusen midfielder, just had to keep showing up until the third one went in.
A friendly is not a trophy, and a gift-wrapped 3–0 is not a dynasty. It is still the loudest thing American soccer has done to its biggest rival since the summer ended with a round-of-16 loss to Belgium. The rebuild was supposed to look like a rebuild. For one night in Arizona, it looked like a rout.
