The U.S. national team are Nations League champions again – here’s how it happened.
The United States men’s national team has won its third straight CONCACAF Nations League final with a 2-0 win over Mexico at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Tex.
Tyler Adams opened the scoring just before halftime with a long-range thunderbolt on his first start for the U.S. in about a year and a half, while Gio Reyna added the United States’ second after providing two assists in the semifinal vs. Jamaica.
The match was stopped twice late on after discriminatory chants were heard.
Here are our key takeaways…
As the match approached the 90th minute with the United States leading 2-0, fans could be heard shouting a discriminatory word on goal kicks that world governing body FIFA, CONCACAF and the Mexican federation have worked to eradicate. After each instance, a message was read over the stadium’s public address system in English and Spanish reminding fans of the federation’s policy concerning that chant.
As the shouts persisted after goal kicks taken by U.S. goalkeeper Matt Turner, Canadian referee Drew Fischer finally moved to Step 1 of that anti-discrimination protocol, which calls for the match to pause, offenders to be removed from the stadium and the game resumed.
When it seemed that the match was over, and some fans even directed chants at Mexican shot-stopper Ochoa, Fischer once again put a pause to proceedings rather than ending the match — which the referee also may do under the protocol.
Before Turner could take the final kick of the match, 40 seconds after the second pause, the referee ended the match as fans streamed out of the stadium.
CONCACAF, the governing body of North America, Central America and Caribbean soccer, condemned the chanting and added in a statement: “It is extremely disappointing that this matter continues to be an issue at some matches, particularly in the context of the next two years presenting such a tremendous opportunity to grow the sport in our region.
“We will continue to urge fans to support their teams positively and with respect for the opposition and all participants in the game.”
Jon Arnold
After two hamstring operations and a whole lot of rehab work and waiting, Tyler Adams started for the United States for the first time in 478 days. Yet as the midfielder continues to work back to full fitness, he still was limited, with U.S. manager Gregg Berhalter only able to play him 45 minutes.
He used every last bit.
As the first half neared stoppage time, center back Tim Ream ran down an errant corner kick and moved the ball to Tim Weah who found Weston McKennie further wide. McKennie then slid the ball to Adams who was around 30 yards from Guillermo Ochoa’s goal. Adams took one touch then launched a right-footed rocket through the legs of diving Mexico midfielder Erick Sanchez and past the diving Ochoa for a resounding opening goal.
