MIAMI, Florida – One of the greatest rivalries in world football returns to the Concacaf Nations League Finals for a second time as the United States take on Mexico in the semifinals of the 2022-23 Concacaf Nations League Finals.
These two sides are already well-acquainted with playing each other in the CNL. Two years ago, in the Final of the 2019-20 CNL, the U.S. defeated Mexico 3-2 in extra time in a match that will forever live in Concacaf lore for having three different lead changes, a goal from each team in the final 15 minutes of regular time courtesy of Diego Laínez and Weston McKennie, a U.S. penalty conversion in extra time from Christian Pulisic and a last-minute save from U.S. GK Ethan Horvath of a Mexico penalty in extra time taken by Mexico’s Andres Guardado.
Overall, there have been 75 previous encounters between the two nations spreading across the CNL, Concacaf Gold Cup, Concacaf World Cup Qualifying, FIFA World Cup, FIFA Confederations Cup, Copa America and international friendlies.
Mexico leads the overall series 36W-17D-22L and have outscored the U.S. 145-87.
In Concacaf WCQ, Mexico own a 16W-8D-7L advantage over the U.S. and 68-35 on goals, while remaining unbeaten on home soil against the U.S. in WCQ with 12 wins and four draws.
Mexico’s series advantage is smaller in Gold Cup play. In eight all-time meetings, there have been five Mexico wins and three U.S. victories, with seven of those eight contests coming in Finals.
However, the lone meeting in the FIFA World Cup was a 2-0 U.S. win at South Korea/Japan 2002, and the only time these two ever played in the Copa America, the U.S. eliminated Mexico in a penalty shootout 4-1 after a 0-0 draw in the 1995 Copa America quarterfinals.
Ahead of next week’s CNLF semifinals, the U.S. are riding a five-match unbeaten streak against Mexico, which includes the 3-2 extra time win in the 2021 CNLF Final, the 1-0 extra time triumph in the 2021 Gold Cup Final and a 2-0 victory in November 2021 in Concacaf WCQ for Qatar 2022.
Their last meeting in an official match was a 0-0 draw in March 2022 at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City in Concacaf WCQ, while this past April in an international friendly the two sides played to a 1-1 draw.
Mexico’s last win against the U.S. came in the 2019 Gold Cup Final in a 1-0 final in which Jonathan dos Santos scored the winning goal.
El Tricolor also claimed the lone FIFA Confederations Cup match between the two with a 1-0 win in extra time in the 1999 edition played in Mexico.
Mexico were also victorious in the 2015 Concacaf Cup in which Paul Aguilar’s strike with just minutes remaining in extra time earned Mexico a dramatic 3-2 victory and a place in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.
With so much history already between these two sides, another great chapter is set to be written when they meet in the CNLF semifinals.
