Why USA vs Mexico is North America's biggest grudge match
Plus: Ronaldo walks out on Portugal, the team with 3 wins in 36 years, and an Irish wondergoal
It is Friday, people. You’ve made it through the work week again - congrats. And what better way to celebrate than building the anticipation for the USA’s biggest rivalry tomorrow when Pochettino’s boys face off against Mexico? On tap today:
🇺🇸 Why USA vs Mexico is North America's biggest grudge match
🌍 The week's international results (and Ireland’s best ever goal???)
🚪 Ronaldo walks out on Portugal… for now
Let's pour.
🥃 TOP SHELF
Mexico won the last meeting. We're out for revenge.
Why USA vs Mexico is North America's biggest grudge match
Saturday night, 10pm ET, the US play Mexico in Glendale, Arizona. Officially, it's a friendly. Nobody involved will treat it like one.
It's the 80th all-time meeting between the two, and the first since they co-hosted this summer's World Cup.
“And the favorites are??”
Too close to call. But history has definitely had its share of front-runners…
The Mexico years
The first meeting came in Rome, of all places, during qualifying for the 1934 World Cup, and the US won 4-2. Then the well ran dry. The US didn't beat Mexico again until 1980.
Of the 24 meetings between 1934 and 1980, 17 were played in Mexico. Many of those were at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. It was a 115,000-seat stadium, at 7,200 feet, with choking smog thrown in for free.
It took until a 2012 friendly for the US to win a game in Mexico, snapping a 24-match winless run there.
For most of the 20th century, Mexico didn't see the US as a rival. They saw a speed bump.
Then came the 2-0s
February 2001. Columbus, Ohio. The small stadium and a kickoff temperature of 28 degrees gave the US a real edge. Mexico lost 2-0.
Sixteen months later, the two met in the Round of 16 at the 2002 World Cup. Brian McBride and Landon Donovan scored, the US won 2-0 again, and they reached a World Cup quarterfinal. Probably the most important chapter in the rivalry’s history.
In the final minutes, Mexico's captain Rafa Márquez was sent off for a deliberate midair headbutt on Cobi Jones. Jones has joked he's still waiting on an apology. Márquez got another straight red against the US in Columbus in 2009, for planting his studs in Tim Howard's knee.
That 2-0 scoreline became a chant, a T-shirt and a tradition. The US beat Mexico by the same score in all four World Cup qualifiers in Columbus. (More on the phrase in Sound Like a Regular below.)
Think the Red Sox breaking the Curse of Bambino in 2004. Then they kept beating the Yankees by the exact same score, just to rub it in.
Where it stands now
Mexico still lead comfortably. The US are on the wrong side of a 24-38-17 all-time series. Mexico also won the last meeting, the 2025 Gold Cup final, 2-1. And both teams went out of their home World Cup in the Round of 16, the US to Belgium and Mexico to England.
Now for the twist. In July, Mexico appointed Rafa Márquez as head coach. Yes, the headbutt guy. He'll be in the opposing dugout from Mauricio Pochettino.
Márquez is signed through 2030. So is Pochettino. Saturday is chapter one of a four-year rematch.
⏰ TLDR: The US went 46 years without beating Mexico, then flipped the rivalry with a run of 2-0 wins starting in 2001. Mexico still lead the all-time series and won the last meeting. They're now coached by Rafa Márquez, the rivalry's original villain. Saturday at 10pm ET is round one of a four-year rematch.
🗣️ SOUND LIKE A REGULAR
"Dos a cero"
/ˈdos a ˈseɾo/ 🔊
phrase · soccer
Definition: Spanish for "two to zero." It's the scoreline US fans love most against Mexico, and the chant they break out whenever the teams meet, usually aimed squarely at the Mexican end of the stadium.
Origin: The US beat Mexico 2-0 in a freezing Columbus, Ohio, World Cup qualifier in 2001, then again at the 2002 World Cup. Fans started chanting the score in Spanish, and Columbus delivered three more.
USED IN A SENTENCE
"Mexico won the last meeting, they're coached by the guy who headbutted Cobi Jones, and it's a 10pm kickoff. I don't just want a win Saturday. I want dos a cero."
🗞️ THE WEEKLY TAP-IN…
Has Ronaldo played his last game for Portugal?
The week's international results
Here’s the pick of the results since Monday, starting with team USA.
USMNT 4-2 Chile: with 17-year-old Mathis Albert becoming the youngest goalscorer in program history. Full match report and video highlights here. And of course if you’re just here for the 4-minute brawl that ended the game, look no further than right here.
Belgium 0-1 France: Michael Olise scored the only goal in Brussels on Monday night, making it two wins from two for Zinedine Zidane's France.
Czechia 0-2 England: Czechia played most of the game with ten men after an early red card. England still needed the second half, with goals from Anthony Gordon and Harry Kane. They sit second in the group, three points behind world champions Spain.
Spain 4-1 Croatia: Lamine Yamal scored twice in Seville. Spain's record unbeaten run now stands at 40 games.
Germany 2-0 Serbia: Jürgen Klopp finally has his first win as Germany boss.
Ireland 2-2 Austria: Troy Parrott put Ireland two up by halftime with a brilliant solo goal (see House Specials below) and a penalty. Two Austrian substitutes then wiped out the lead in five minutes. I've watched that second half three times. It doesn't get better.
Elsewhere: Italy beat Türkiye 4-1, Wales came from behind to beat Norway 2-1, and Portugal won 4-2 in Denmark (more on that below).
The GOAT who called himself a cab
On Monday I told you Cristiano Ronaldo watched all 90 minutes of Portugal's win in Norway from the bench. On Wednesday, he left.
Hours after Portugal coach Jorge Jesus said Ronaldo wouldn't start Thursday's game in Copenhagen either, the 41-year-old announced he'd left the camp. Spanish newspaper Marca reported that Jesus and the head of Portugal's federation followed him to the airport, but couldn't talk him into staying.
Imagine Tom Brady being told he's QB2, then calling an Uber from the sideline.
Jesus insists there's no feud. His line: some players have status, but the rules are the same for everyone. Ronaldo said in an Instagram post that he'll tell Portugal the truth about his reasons "in due course."
Meanwhile, Portugal beat Denmark 4-2 without him. Gonçalo Ramos, the man who replaced him, had already scored the winner in Norway.
Ronaldo is still Portugal's record scorer, with 146 goals, and their most-capped player, with 234 games. He's also said this season is probably his last as a player. Whether he pulls on that shirt again is anyone's guess.
And the other GOAT? He gets a farewell party on Tuesday. More on that Monday.
🍻 HAVE A BEER WITH…
In Poch we trust
Mauricio Pochettino
Team: USMNT head coach
What to watch for this weekend: Saturday is his first game against Mexico since the 2025 Gold Cup final loss. It's also his first against Rafa Márquez as rival coaches. He signed a new deal in August that runs through the 2030 World Cup.
Fact: As a player he tackled more than he played, and earned the nickname "the Sheriff of Murphy." It's a nod to his hometown of under 4,000 people, where his grandfather really was the sheriff. The town was incredibly named after an Irishman in the early 1900s.
Toast: A Quilmes. It’s considered a national symbol, featuring the colors of the Argentine flag on its label and serving as a major sponsor for the national football team.
Follow him here: @pochettino
🔥 HOUSE SPECIALS
⚽ Goal of the week: The best solo goal in modern Irish soccer history? Maybe. That man again - Troy Parrott - skipped past two defenders before slotting through the keeper's legs for Ireland's opener. GOAT.
🎉 Fanzone: All 85,018 tickets for Messi's farewell game were snapped up in under two hours.
📅 On this day: October 2, 1928: the governing body of US soccer suspended the American Soccer League, the country's top division at the time, after it boycotted the national cup competition.
🐣 Underdog corner: San Marino (Google Maps link here, you’re welcome) have a population of 34,000 people and are 0W-1D-9L in their last 10 with a 4-38 scoreline, having won only three matches since their inception in 1990. They face Belarus tomorrow at 12pm ET.
👕 Wardrobe watch: Coventry City and Hummel released a limited-edition all-pink shirt for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
🔗 Most clicked from Monday: Sebastian Berhalter's beauty vs Peru.
That’s all, folks. Sláinte.