Thomas Dooley provided a dramatic ending to a rousing game, drawing the United States into a 2-2 tie with Mexico in the final minute of their U.S. Cup '96 showdown.
But the Americans, playing before a Rose Bowl crowd of 92,216, were still not pleased Sunday, a sign of how far their team has come in the 1990s."Everyone was very disappointed with the result," U.S. defender Alexi Lalas said. "Years ago, it would have been all right.
"But it's not sufficient now. We have to beat teams that we feel we're better than. We feel we're better than Mexico."
In a frantic finish before a spirited crowd, Dooley scored on a header to bring the United States back from a 2-1 deficit.
Mexico, which had gone ahead less than two minutes earlier, with regulation time finished and the game in injury time, still won the Cup with a 1-0-2 record to a 1-1-1 mark for the U.S. national team.
The Americans, who lost 2-0 to Bolivia last Wednesday, dropped into third place, behind Bolivia and ahead of Ireland, in the final U.S. Cup standings.
The sellout game was a homecoming for Mexican coach Bora Milutinovic, who was released by the U.S. team after guiding the United States - and most of the same American players on the field Sunday - to its best World Cup showing, the second round in 1994.
"The USA played very well; my team played very well," Milutinovic said. "The winner today was soccer."
Mexico had eight shots on goal to three by the United States and the Mexicans put together several serious scoring opportunities. But U.S. goalie Brad Friedel made a variety of spectacular saves to keep the Mexicans from finishing their chances.
"He played a super game," said Milutinovic, who used Friedel behind starter Tony Meola on the 1994 World Cup squad. "He (Friedel) never played that way for my team."
The final scoring play began with Tab Ramos' corner kick, which sailed beyond the goal. Marcelo Balboa headed the ball softly back toward the mouth of the net and Dooley went up and tapped the ball over goalie Jorge Campos.
Mexico, whose squad was made up of a combination of Olympic and national team players, went ahead moments earlier when Cuauhtemoc Blanco's shot deflected off Balboa and past the sprawling Friedel.
The other U.S. goal came on a sliding, left-footed volley by Eric Wynalda in the 34th minute, when he blasted in a cross from John Harkes on the right side into the right top corner of the net.
Wynalda, the all-time leading scorer for the United States, left the game in the second half after possibly separating his left shoulder on a hard tackle by Duilo Davino.
Rafael Garcia tied the game 1-1 in injury time just before the half ended. Taking a free kick from the right side, five yards outside the box, Garcia curled his left-footed shot just inside the far post and Friedel couldn't reach the ball.
The crowd, the third largest ever to watch the U.S. national team play, featured a mix of Mexican and American flags waving through the stands, and the play on the field was intense.
"That's to be expected," Wynalda said, noting the atmosphere for the game.
He also said he saw and heard more U.S fans in the stands than during a 1-0 victory over Mexico at the Rose Bowl two years earlier, when the sellout crowd was so supportive of Mexico that the United States was seemingly playing in a foreign country.
"I noticed today during the national anthem that there were a lot more American flags," he said. "Sometimes the crowd was for us, sometimes it was for them. Everyone got to see a good game."
There were a total of 41 fouls, 22 by the U.S. players, and six yellow caution cards issued, four to the Americans.
There were several skirmishes between the players, but no ejections. After Wynalda took Davino down in the fourth minute, Campos came rushing out to protest that Wynalda was not called. Players from both sides began pushing and shoving in the middle of the field briefly before order was restored.
Ten minutes into the second half, Davino flattened Wynalda and drew a yellow card, and Wynalda left the game seven minutes later.
Soon after the game, Campos returned to the nets to complete a rare personal doubleheader: the Mexican star was in goal for the Los Angeles Galaxy against the Tampa Bay Mutiny.