Sports Mole previews Friday’s World Cup Qualifying – North Central America clash between Mexico and USA, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Bitter CONCACAF rivals Mexico and the USA will kick off the final window of qualifying for World Cup 2022 on Thursday at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
Both teams are tied for second in the Octagon at 21 points, as El Tri collected eight out of a possible nine points in the last qualification window, while The Yanks blanked Honduras 3-0 back in February in the cold Minnesota climate.
Match preview
© Reuters
The road to Qatar has been anything but smooth for Gerardo Martino and his team, who have lost more matches in this qualification cycle (two) than they did in their entire 2018 qualifying campaign.
Some late heroics have put the 11-time CONCACAF Gold Cup champions in a strong position to return to the World Cup, scoring twice in the final 10 minutes in a comeback victory (2-1) over Jamaica, and then firing home a winner from the penalty spot with 10 minutes remaining to defeat Panama 1-0.
A win along with a loss by Costa Rica and the Panamanians on Thursday would guarantee the Mexicans make it into the finals for an eighth successive campaign, having been knocked out in the Round of 16 of every World Cup since 1994.
Martino has tried to bring a Tiki-taka brand of football to Mexico, which has not been as successful as it was for years at Barcelona, the side which he led to a Supercopa de Espana title in…
