You know what happened by now, even if you didn't see the game. Paul Aguilar scored in the 119th minute to lift Mexico over the United States for the right to go to the Confederations Cup, the warm-up to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Considering the circumstances leading up to the game, the hype, the stakes, the atmosphere, this coule very well be the most important goal scored in USA vs. Mexico history.
Paul Aguilar sinks a dagger into the USA deep in extra time to give Mexico a 3-2 lead. #USAvMEX Watch: http://t.co/Wy13PvPpg6
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) October 11, 2015Sure, there have been goals scored in more important competitions, and there have been other heart-stopping winners, but there hasn't been a goal in this rivalry that had as many of the factors that make an all-time great goal as this one did. It was an amazing goal. It came with damn near no time left. It may get Jurgen Klinsmann fired. It sent one nation into ecstacy and the other into despair, in a divided fan atmostphere at the Rose Bowl. Every single emotion was felt at the Rose Bowl at that moment because of that goal. I'd bet my life on that.
There were other goals in the game, too! Chicharito Hernandez inched closer to becoming Mexico's all-time leading scorer, and collected his first-ever (and how is that even possible?) against the USMNT.
Chicharito opens the scoring. #USAvMEX http://t.co/e6dem2MR44
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) October 11, 2015Geoff Cameron came up from center back and got his head on a Michael Bradley free-kick to even it a few minutes later.
Some quality defending by Mexico and we're now level. http://t.co/4AxwszXela https://t.co/aJCUQkbZ2D
— Sounder At Heart (@sounderatheart) October 11, 2015In extra-time, Oribe Peralta, who many said should have been on the bench in favor of Carlos Vela, slotted home what looked like the winner, as the Americans hadn't been able to get anything going forward.
Peralta's goal to put #Mexico ahead in the #USAvMEX match. https://t.co/Kor0zOf35Y
— World Soccer Shop (@worldsoccershop) October 11, 2015But then Bobby Wood, scorer of the winners against Germany and the Netherlands, added to his reputation for clutch goals.
BOBBY WOOD LEVELS THE #USAvMEX MATCH! https://t.co/dmDnaWBIEG
— World Soccer Shop (@worldsoccershop) October 11, 2015But what a game, though. I still can't even wrap my head around it. Let's do it again some time.
Contact The18 Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Klomhaus@The18.com or follow him on Twitter @SamKlomhaus
