USMNT Gets Gifts and Defeats Mexico

By Daniel Feuerstein | Glendale, AZ | October 3rd, 2026

The U.S. Men’s National Team traveled to the desert of Arizona as they hosted Mexico at State Farm Stadium. After two solid results against two South American opponents, this young national team would face the best of CONCACAF as they took on their old rivals south of the border in Mexico. This match would be a true test for the young kids of the national team, as they would play against the big boys, and this time they were able to get a little help from their rivals and took advantage of those chances as they defeated Mexico by the final score of three goals to nil.

Julian Hall makes history

It was an innocent play that began with a looping ball by Sebastian Berhalter as he found Alex Freeman at the far side and near the touchline. As he moved the ball up the pitch, Freeman played a nice ball into a space where Gio Reyna was hustling to get possession, then collected the ball and ran towards the front post and tried to cross it towards the middle of the area. Raul Rangel did stop the cross, but he flubbed the ball and got away from him; waiting for that mistake was Julian Hall. The pass by Reyna was too hard; Rangel couldn’t control it, and Hall smashed it into the back of the net in the 28th minute

With that goal, Hall made U.S. Men’s National Team history as the third player to score a goal in three consecutive games, and it was his first three consecutive games he had played. The last man to do that was Eddie Johnson in the November Window of 2004, and in March of 2005, the very first three-game scoring streak in their first three matches was Alexander Rae, all the way back in 1937. Julian Hall is in very good company right now.

Cavan Sullivan has his first USMNT Goal

So far in his first three games of his young International career, Cavan Sullivan has looked poised, determined, and hasn’t been fazed one bit facing Peru, Chile, and now Mexico. You could see Mexico trying to push for that equalizer in this match, but they couldn’t get that ball into the back of the net. As they tried to reset an attacking play, Raul Rangel was trying to distribute the ball to his teammate, but he never saw Sullivan creeping in and cut off the ball. With quick thinking, Sullivan chipped the ball past Rangel, and it slowly dipped down and landed inside the net in the 63rd minute.

With that goal, Cavan Sullivan has knocked Mathis Albert off the top of the mountain as the youngest U.S. Men’s National Team player to score at the age of 17 years and five days. Since the start of his professional soccer career at the Philadelphia Union, the younger brother of Quinn Sullivan has shone on the pitch at Subaru Park, and many have wanted him to get a chance with the U.S. Men’s National Team. In his third match and second start, he finally scored his goal, and he ran to the near corner of the stadium, celebrated with American fans, and was mobbed by his teammates.

Tillman gets his gift and makes it three

Raul Rangel was getting booed by the Mexican fans every time the ball was passed back to him. The two errors he made allowed the crowd to turn on him, and they showed him their displeasure all the time. But once again, another poor pass and an unforced error were made, but this time it was the defense that coughed up the ball. As the defense was trying to move the ball up, Alvaro Fidalgo on the near side was trying to pass the ball back to a teammate, but he never saw Malik Tillman and made the pass into space. Tillman took advantage of the situation, got hold of the ball, and roofed it into the upper far 90 for his second of this window in the 85th minute.

Mexico down to ten men

You could see the frustration as the Mexican players were now down by two and fouling the USA players on the pitch. One particular moment saw Mateo Chavez looking a bit reckless and blowing off some steam. But the match got to him as he took down substitute Yunus Musah from behind along the near side touchline. Some were expecting a yellow card, but when Sebastian Berhalter came to the aid of his fouled teammate, he got to Chavez to challenge him, and then Chavez smacked Berhalter in the face. Berhalter went down, and right away the referee pulled out the straight red card and sent off Mateo Chavez in the 68th minute, sending Mexico down to ten men. Berhalter would also be booked for his antics as well.

So far, a successful international window

The U.S. Men’s National Team have three wins in these four matches of the new combined international window of September & October. They have scored timely goals and have made some solid defensive plays, while they will head back to the Midwest and face Canada at Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minnesota. You believe Mauricio Pochettino is a very happy man to see his players working hard and executing his tactics to get these results.

“I think that this, overall, was a great opportunity to discover ourselves, to see ourselves in a difficult game with a very good team. Again, Mexico is a great team. Different, maybe. In the first half, I think Mexico started really well. They forced us to play back. We never connected. We were losing all the duels. And then we started to grow I think it was a good lesson in the first half, because it was the sense of working together, suffering together, even when you are not playing well in the way that you plan to play. I think it’s so important to show that maturity, like a team, like a group of players.

The 11 players plus the players that were outside, they were suffering all together. Was that connection that is so important to sustain? Sorry, because of the… The important thing is to sustain, you know, be on the game, stay focused, that was really important. And I think after the 20 minutes, I think we started to grow into the game. Of course, after we scored 1-0, and then I think it was important to finish the first half 1-0 for us. In the second half I think we made some changes, some fix, some situations, tactical situation I think that make for us easier to start to play in the way that we wanted to play and I think we were much better in the second half.

I think we dominated the game, and we were much better than Mexico. But I am so happy because we took many positive things, despite the wrestling. I think the important thing is to start that cycle, that new era. With this group of players, and after three games in a very difficult window, I see feelings; those feelings are so important in all that we have ahead and to build that,” said Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino

The U.S. Men’s National Team defeated Mexico with goals from Julian Hall, Cavan Sullivan and Malik Tillman

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