Classic USA-MEX match & Other Friendlies

WORK FROM HOME -- It was not surprising that the USA won a meaningless match against MEX (they sometimes do, and no, the Nations Cup trophy is not worth playing for, as evident by players MEX did not call up) since this does not lead to, for example WC qualifying or a Confederations Cup berth.  But, oh what a match it was.  Of course, a typical USA misplay led to a MEX goal barely 70 seconds in and a near death blow when they went up 2-0.  Except they didn't, VAR rules offsides and minutes later, USA scored off a corner kick to tie it at 1.  Boy, nearly every one of USA's 6 corners resulted in a great header, most on goal, something that rarely happens in soccer.  It was like a free scoring opportunity every time.  When MEX went up late, USA tied it again three minutes later (yeah, off a corner).  

Then VAR ruled PKs twice in the second half of Extra Time, one for USA (where Christian Pulisic nailed the PK) and one for MEX (where backup GK Ethan Horvath came up big with a save).  That gave the final USA 3, MEX 2.  But let's not forget

a man jumping the rail behind the talent during halftime (I thought he may have fallen to next level but apparently it wasn't that far of a fall), people running on to the field, the banned chants that could've postponed the match a day, MEX's coach getting red-carded for hugging a ref during VAR review (yeah, video assistant review review), full cups and debris being thrown at U.S. players (one injuring a USA player and one accidentally nailing a MEX player), tons of stoppage time that could've easily been doubled with all the delays (chants, injuries, bottles, reviews), and not being on broadcast TV but Paramount+ (which I subscribe to thanks to this).  So much drama and so much emotion from the USA players.  So great to finally see again.

The Euros start Friday (Enter now!  Deadline to enter the pool is Noon PDT) and teams have played a couple of friendlies this past week (Portugal plays Wednesday).  Switzerland, who struggled against the aforementioned U.S. team, routed tiny Liechtenstein 7-0 which was made less impressive by the fact that a few days later, some country named "Faroe Islands" routed that same team 5-1.  #1 Belgium played to a 1-1 tie with Greece and 1-0 win over Croatia (which had tied Armenia 1-1 earlier).  Italy, Slovenia, Sweden, Netherlands, Ukraine, Germany (7-1 over Latvia), Spain, and France rolled to routs over non-qualified Euro teams.  Even North Macedonia won 4-0 over Kazakhstan.  Hungary, Austria, and Wales couldn't score in their nil-nil draws to lower ranked teams.  Can't wait until Friday!