HOUSTON — For 23 fleeting minutes here at NRG Stadium on Sunday night, the U.S. men’s national team was back atop CONCACAF. It was beating Mexico, 1-0, in the Gold Cup final, and rising past expectations, toward a regional summit. But in the end, it succumbed to a better team — El Tri, which came back to win 2-1 and claim Mexico’s 10th Gold Cup title.
Edson Álvarez’s 77th-minute goal, awarded after a dramatic VAR review, was the difference.
An hour and a half earlier, before some of 70,925 fans here could even settle into their seats, the U.S. was ahead. Patrick Agyemang won a free kick on the right. Sebastian Berhalter whipped it into the box. Chris Richards hunted it, and nodded a world-class header over Mexican goalkeeper Luis Malagón, onto the crossbar, and narrowly over the line.
For a few tense seconds, players and fans alike froze, uncertain whether the ball had fully crossed the line. But the assistant referee raised his flag. The head referee, Mario Escobar, noticed it and whistled for a goal. Richards wheeled away in celebration, with a finger to his ear, as U.S. teammates erupted.
Replays weren’t definitive. CONCACAF, the regional soccer governing body that runs the Gold Cup, does not use goal-line technology, so the call was made by fallible humans on the field. Nonetheless, it was a goal, and the U.S. was buoyant.
Throughout a fascinating first half, though, Mexico’s quality began to show. Álvarez, 16-year-old Gilberto Mora and Marcel Ruíz began to run the show. The U.S. struggled to cope with their movement in midfield, and struggled to get out of its defensive shell when possession changed hands.
From Richards’ goal until first-half stoppage time, the Americans didn’t take a single shot. They hardly got into the final third.
And in the 27th minute, Ruíz unlocked the U.S. defense. He slipped into a pocket of space at the top of the penalty box. Tyler Adams got caught between him and Alexis Vega. U.S. right back Alex Freeman got caught in “no-man’s land,” and didn’t recover quick enough to Ruíz. Ruíz slid a clever reverse pass to Raúl Jiménez, who finished like the most accomplished player in the field — which he was.
The U.S. stabilized over the final 10 minutes of the first half. In fact, the Americans never truly lost their footing. They limited Mexico to very few legitimate looks at goal.
But they failed to create much of anything going forward. Several players showed their inexperience under the “pressure” and “stress” that head coach Mauricio Pochettino promised this game would bring. Adams, Luca de la Torre and Berhalter lacked composure and precision. Diego Luna was overwhelmed and invisible.
Similar patterns resumed in the second half. The USMNT, with no true wingers, offered essentially zero vertical threat. Mexico pushed, gently, for a go-ahead goal — and for a while couldn’t find one. Richards was dominant in the air and strong on the ground. In midfield as well, tackles began flying in. Adams was booked for crunching Álvarez.
But Álvarez got the last laugh, with his diving header off a flicked free kick.
When VAR overruled the assistant referee’s offside call, the Mexican captain, and player of the tournament, sprinted half the length of the field toward green-clad fans behind the goal.
The U.S. searched for an equalizer, but didn’t have the firepower to find one.
It had come a long way, from the brink of crisis to this final, but it couldn’t quite clear the last — and tallest — hurdle.