Five takeaways on the USMNT’s dominant win over Mexico

The U.S. men’s soccer team delivered one of its most impressive wins ever over Mexico Thursday night in Las Vegas, 3-0, in the Concacaf Nations League semifinals. Here are five takeaways on the game.

Comparing the talent of the two starting lineups, there was a sense the U.S. had more of it, and that played out in the game. But there still haven’t been many U.S. performances this dominant in the rivalry’s 76-game history. The Americans outshot Mexico, 11-5, with terrific pressing and precise finishing by Christian Pulisic (twice) and Ricardo Pepi.

» READ MORE: Christian Pulisic scores twice as USMNT routs Mexico 3-0 in Concacaf Nations League semifinal

In the days before the game, the Hershey native spoke openly about how difficult things have been for him at Chelsea, in what’s likely to be his last season there. When he puts on a U.S. jersey, though, he gets to another level, and Thursday night was another such occasion.

Wearing the captain’s armband, Pulisic had five shots, was 9-of-13 passing with four recoveries and one tackle, and won all seven duels he contested.

He loves stepping up against Mexico, in particular. He has four goals in his last four games against El Tri: the winner in the 2021 Nations League final, one in World Cup qualifying later that year, and Thursday’s two.

» READ MORE: Christian Pulisic opens up about his uncertain future at Chelsea

Everyone was rightly excited about the debut of Folarin Balogun, the U.S. team’s new star striker. Interim manager B.J. Callaghan threw him right in, starting Balogun in a lineup that put pretty much all of the squad’s best players on the field at the outset.

Balogun had just one shot and completed eight of his nine passes, committed three fouls, and was fouled three times — some of which served as his official welcome to Concacaf action.

He was subbed off in the 75th minute for Pepi, who was the big-hype striker before Balogun arrived, then struggled so badly in Germany that he was left out of the World Cup.

The saying goes in soccer that form is temporary but class is permanent, and Pepi showed that he’s got the stuff that doesn’t go away. He broke past Mexico’s defense so fast on his goal that the refs thought he was offside, before a video review showed he was clearly on.

» READ MORE: Highly rated striker Folarin Balogun commits to the USMNT

There were 13 cards in the game, nine yellows, and four reds: four yellows to the U.S., five to Mexico, and two reds to each side.

The U.S. reds were controversial: Weston McKennie for putting his hands on an opponent’s neck amid a huge scrum — where his jersey was ripped by a Mexican player — and Sergiño Dest for pushing back at Mexico’s Gerardo Arteaga. Salvadoran referee Iván Barton was clearly overmatched.

It has to be said, though, that Dest let his emotions get the better of himself. Yes, he got kicked hard and then shoved by Mexico’s Edson Álvarez on the play that sparked the retaliation, but the broadcast showed how Dest responded to the provocation.

Fortunately, the U.S. should have enough depth to handle Sunday’s title game vs. Canada (8:30 p.m., Univision 65, TUDN, Paramount+). Expect Luca de la Torre to start in central midfield for McKennie, and Joe Scally to start at right back for Dest.

» READ MORE: B.J. Callaghan’s rise to leading the U.S. men’s soccer team has roots at Villanova

First, there was the news right around kickoff that former U.S. manager Gregg Berhalter is getting his old job back. It was broken by The Athletic, and by the end of the night just about every American outlet with a reporter at the stadium had it confirmed. But the players didn’t know yet when they walked off the field, so they learned from the media.

Pulisic, who recently gave Berhalter strong backing to return, was happy to hear the news.

“You can see, today is a testament of the work that [Berhalter] put into this team,” he told reporters. “B.J. picked up right where he left off, and it’s a testament to him, a testament to this team, the way that we just continued and just put on performances like that. So if that’s not enough evidence [to support Berhalter], that’s all right. People are going to hate.”

During the game, the action was marred by Mexico fans unleashing a homophobic chant they’ve used often at games in recent times. Barton stopped the game in its late stages, then ended it early as the chant continued — though Concacaf oddly insisted the chant wasn’t why.

“These incidents were extremely disappointing and tarnished what should have been a positive occasion to showcase high-quality football in our region,” Concacaf said in a statement. “The Confederation is in the process of urgently establishing further details and reports from security and match officials and will make a further statement in short order.”

Historically, punishments issued to Mexico’s federation have been fines and games behind closed doors. But until Concacaf either bans fans or forces El Tri to forfeit a game on the spot, fans across the region will remain skeptical that the rules in place are strong enough.

» READ MORE: Gregg Berhalter set to return as USMNT manager, reports say