STATE FARM STADIUM (Glendale, Ariz.) — The U.S. men’s soccer team trounced Mexico, its fiercest rival and FIFA’s No. 10 ranked nation, 3-0 in Saturday’s exhibition match here in front of a heavily pro El Tri crowd of more than 60,000 at the home of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals.
Eighteen-year-old forward Julian Hall scored for the third straight game, 17-year-old Cavan Sullivan added the second and Malik Tillman rounded out the scoring with just a few minutes remaining.
Here are my takeaways, plus post-game reaction from U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino and his players.
Last weekend against Peru, Cavan Sullivan became the second-youngest player to start in U.S. men’s national team history.
On Saturday, he notched an even more impressive milestone when he pounced on an errant pass by Jose Rangel and chipped the Mexico keeper to give the Americans a dos-a-cero lead — the youngest goalscorer in the 113-year history of the program.
“He’s a talented player with enormous quality, but with a very good balance in possession and out of possession,” Pochettino said. “He’s a fighter. He’s a warrior. It’s difficult to find this type of player.
“Happy for him, happy for the team,” the coach added. “I like what he said [on TNT’s broadcast] After the game, the most important thing was the result. He learns every day. This is a good thing.”
2. Disclosure Regarding Largest Competitor
Before losing back-to-back games to Mexico in 2024 and 25, the U.S. dominated its southern neighbor this decade, defeating El Tri in three straight Concacaf Nations League Finals and the Gold Cup final in 2021. After Pochettino took over, the pendulum swung back, though it was hardly his fault. In the 2025 Gold Cup finals in Guadalajara and Houston.
The United States is led by Mauricio Pochettino. (Photo by Robin Alam/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
After emphatically beating the Peruvians and Chile late last month, Pochettino warned on Friday that there would be ups and downs in this extraordinarily young squad, the first of the 2030 World Cup cycle.
But the boys didn’t get the memo, growing up in the match against Mexico and taking advantage of the scoring opportunities presented to them. This is a very encouraging sign going forward.
“Mexico is a great team,” said Pochettino. “They forced us to play backwards. We never connected, we lost all duels. Then after 15-20 minutes we started to grow.”
“We had to adjust in different ways,” USA captain Tyler Adams said. “We kind of regrouped at halftime … I thought it was a complete team performance in a lot of different aspects of the game. We had some challenges to defend. I thought we defended well for most of the half and then obviously scored some good goals.”
The 18-year-old Red Bull New York striker may not even have been on Pochettino’s list for Saturday’s contest.
World Cup starter Folarin Balogun and one of his substitutes, Haji Wright, have not been called up in this window. Had Ricardo Pepi, who appeared in all five games in the Americans’ run to the last 16 since Pochettino reshuffled his squad on September 17, injured, Hall would hardly have played much.
Julian Hall continues to score. (Photo by Taylor Banner/USSF/Getty Images)
It doesn’t matter. Hall has taken every opportunity since making his senior international debut in last week’s 4-1 win over Peru, scoring in that game shortly after coming on as a second-half substitute and then scoring on his first start, in the 4-2 win against Chile.
Those goals were enough for Poch to keep the Manhattan-born Hall in his squad for Saturday’s match against Mexico, the highest-ranked four-man match the 16th-ranked USA will play in this window. And Hall followed one of the USA’s only extended spells of possession in a first half in which El Tri had more than 60 percent of the possession to give the hosts a 1-0 win.
“I mean, three goals in three games is not bad for a striker, especially in your first three games with the national team,” said Gio Reyna, whose pass set up Hall’s run. “He kind of has an eye for purpose.”
Like most of the other youngsters Pochettino handed protocols this month, Hall is likely to return to either the U.S. Under-20 national team or the U-23s for the 2028 Olympics when the more experienced strikers in the player pool inevitably return. But for a country that has never looked like a pure enough goalscorer, it has given Poch and his squad something to think about ahead of next month’s Concacaf Nations League quarter-finals.
“It’s a fantastic challenge for us,” the coach said when asked if the performances of Hall and other youngsters could change their plans.
The United States, once the strongest position, has had a devil of a time producing elite goalkeepers in recent years. But Kochen, 20, has been the nation’s best backcourt prospect in recent years, and the fact that Poch started him in a hostile environment in Glendale speaks volumes for the Barcelona product’s potential.
That talent was on full display in the 58th minute, when he stopped the world with the USA leading 1-0 and Mexico knocking on the door. El Tri striker Roberto Alvarado on the way to a clean sheet:
“This is one of the best moments of my entire life,” a beaming Kochen told me about an hour after the final whistle. “I’m very grateful that the coach trusted me with this.”
It remains to be seen whether Koche will stick around, remain in a secondary role with the senior team or return to the youth ranks like the others. Don’t be surprised if it’s the former, given his opponent, his age and his status as an American goaltender with the highest ceiling.
4 1/2. Next? Familiar Enemy
The Americans made another quick turnaround after Saturday’s win, with just two days between the Mexico match and another rivalry game with Canada and its American coach Jesse Marsch on Tuesday.
“We’ve got Canada in three days,” said Reyna, the only U.S. player to start all three games in this camp. “It’s the first time I’ve started three games a week in probably four or five years, so I’m a little tired right now. But I’ll be good for Canada.”
While the USA leads the all-time series with a record of 17 wins to 12 losses (including two ties), they have won just once in the last six meetings between the teams, including the most recent meeting in 2025. Can the Red, White and Blue break another losing streak against another neighbor in Minnesota?