The All Whites have been beaten by Mexico (FIFA rank 17) on a hot evening at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California, in the first of their September US games. 

Head coach Darren Bazeley named an experienced side with Chris Wood back in the white shirt for the first time in 2024 and Michael Boxall named captain to celebrate his 50th cap. 

Mexico started the more dominant side, cheered on by the crowd heavily made up of El Tri fans.  

Within five minutes they had the lead after Orbelín Pineda finished low into the bottom corner past Max Crocombe in the All Whites net. 

Crocombe was soon called into action again but Santiago Giménez couldn’t find a way past him, with the All Whites keeper making two good saves.

With half-time approaching, the All Whites had their best chance of the game.

A Joe Bell corner fired across the goal but Tommy Smith couldn’t quite reach to head the ball into an empty net.

The second half saw Mexico continue to have better control of the match, with goal scorer Pineda hitting the crossbar with an instinctive finish.

In the 53rd minute Mexico doubled their lead.

Substitute César Huerta had only been on the pitch a few minutes but was picked out by Luis Romo for a close range finish with his first touch.

Four minutes later Romo turned from creator to goal scorer as his long range shot took a heavy deflection into the back of the net for 3-0, where the game finished.

The All Whites will learn from the test against the higher ranked side and look to put those lessons into action against the USA in their next game on Wednesday (NZT). 

FT

Mexico – 3 (5’ O. Pineda, 53’ C. Huerta, 57’ L. Romo)
All Whites – 0

Article added: Sunday 08 September 2024