October 10 is the big day. Mexico will face the U.S. in the 2017 Confederations Cup playoff at the Rose Bowl stadium. Are you ready? We want to make sure you’re as hyped as humanly possible, so here’s a list of six historic goleadas and dos a cero scores to make sure you’re too excited to sleep tonight:
Bora Militunović’s U.S. squad met their arch rivals in the semifinals of the inaugural CONCACAF Gold Cup in front of 41,000+ at Los Angeles’ Memorial Coliseum. The red, white, and blue defeated El Tri 2-0 thanks to goals from John Doyle and Peter Vermes, a monumental result given that the home side had only won two games in 28 all-time.
Zague got El Tri off on the right foot with a perfectly-placed third minute strike, and Alberto García Aspe sealed the deal with a rocket in the 68th to give Mexico its first win on American turf since 1974. This game is also historically known as that time that Ramón Ramírez kicked Alexi Lalas in the groin…
Let’s add another 2-0 to the list: on a cold February evening in Columbus, Ohio, the U.S. fought its way to victory in the final round, qualifying for the 2002 World Cup. In absolutely classic fashion, Brian McBride was forced to leave the match after a nasty head collision with Rafael Márquez that resulted in an outrageous black eye. Substitute Josh Wolff beat a high defensive line, and Earnie Stewart made it 2-0 by burying a shot in the 87th.
One more epic dos a cero, and McBride and Rafa Márquez are once again in the middle of the action. This battle took place in the World Cup round of sixteen – Landon Donovan’s 65th minute header put the U.S. up 2-0, and Márquez’s studs-up tackle on Cobi Jones two minutes later led to a red card and El Tri playing down a man.
El Tri hands the U.S. a second-half goleada at Giants Stadium to win its seventh Gold Cup title. Gerardo Torrado, Giovani Dos Santos, Carlos Vela, Israel Castro, and Guillermo Franco score the goals. The win ends the U.S.’s 11-game unbeaten streak on home soil, dating back to 1999.
In Bob Bradley’s last match at the helm for the U.S., the home side suffered a 4-2 loss in front of a 93,000+ crowd at the Rose Bowl. Mexico fought back from 2-0 down, and Giovani Dos Santos scored *that* goal, arguably the best strike in the history of the rivalry.