Mexico vs Paraguay Friendly Confirmed for Arrowhead

The friendly between Mexico and Paraguay to be played in Kansas City has been confirmed today by the Mexican Federation. The game will take place on Tuesday, March 31st with an 8pm Central Time kick off at Arrowhead. The game will be the second of two friendlies that Mexico is playing in the United States during that international break. The first is three days earlier in Los Angeles against Ecuador.

This will be the first standalone international match between two countries that are not the United States to take place in Kansas City. The other international matches not involving the US have been coupled with the Gold Cup or with Olympic qualifying. It's also the first time that the full Mexican national team will play in Kansas City.

From my personal experience, fans from all over the Midwest will travel to Kansas City for this game. It being a mid-week game will cut down some on the traveling crowd, but it should still be a decently sized crowd for the game. Back in 2009, Arrowhead hosted a friendly between Club America and Chivas Guadalajara that game drew over 26,000 people on a Wednesday night.

The attendance for that friendly is probably one of the main reasons why that this game is going to be held at Arrowhead and not across town at the city's Soccer Specific Stadium, Sporting Park. With a seating capacity of just 18,467, putting the game at the larger stadium makes sense for all parties involved. I'd expect at least north of 30,000 for this game, possibly more if it is promoted well.

Mexico and Paraguay to Play in KC

El 27 de marzo será el debut de Ramón Díaz como DT de Paraguay vs #CostaRica,Luego el 31 ante #México en Kansas.
— Elmer Polanco (@PolancoESA) December 11, 2014

Reports from Mexico and Paraguay today are reporting that the two national teams will be meeting in Kansas in March of 2015.

The location for the friendly has not been announced as of yet, but if it is "Kansas" one would assume that it is Sporting Park. Of course we've learned over the years that foreign media will refer to the whole of Kansas City as Kansas. So it's a possibility that the game could be played at Arrowhead Stadium.

The game would be the first stand alone national team game in Kansas City to not feature the US national team game. All prior national team games in KC not involving the US team have all been tied in with other competitions, like the Gold Cup or Olympic qualifying.

It should certainly be a fun atmosphere for the game wherever it ends up being held.

Zusi the Hero of Mexico

Four days after putting in a man of the match performance for the United States in their 2-0 win over Jamaica that clinched the top of the Hex for the USA, Graham Zusi was again the man of the match. This time for a country he doesn't even represent. With the US trailing Panama 2-1 and Mexico trailing Costa Rica 2-1, Mexico was actually on it's way out of the World Cup for the first time since 1990 (and first time without it due to suspension since 1982). Then in the second minute of stoppage time, Brad Davis received the ball out wide and floated a cross into the middle of the box. Zusi made a nice run and headed the ball home to tie the game and give Mexico life. Shortly after Zusi scored, Aron Johannsson scored his first goal for the US to seal the game at 3-2.

The result is funny cause throughout the night you saw US fans openly rooting for Panama in the game, hoping they'd win and knock out Mexico. You saw even more, like myself, who were conflicted we don't want the US to lose, but to see your biggest rival embarrassed by not qualifying for the World Cup is something that you couldn't help but laugh about at their expense. You also saw Mexican fans openly rooting for the US, especially after Mexico went down a second time to Costa Rica. All in all, a crazy night in CONCACAF and a night that proves the excitement of playing all the final games at the same time.

US Take Point in Mexico

The US did something last night they've only done once before in Mexico City.  Against Mexico in a World Cup qualifier, the US walked out of Azteca with a point thanks to a 0-0 draw last night.  The US didn't put on the greatest performance offensively, but defensively the team was solid.  Starting center backs Matt Besler and Omar Gonzalez were making just their 2nd and 6th cap respectively and in arguably one of the toughest places to play in the world, looked World Class.  Gonzalez probably had the better match of the two, but it wasn't by much as Besler was all over the place, doing the exact same things he does for Kansas City on a regular basis, cleaning up the trash in the box and cutting out lanes.  Both center backs certainly made Jurgen Klinsmann's choice to start them look genius.

It wasn't just the USA's center backs that played well defensively.  Arguably everyone had a good defensive game for the US, even DaMarcus Beasley, who was the go at target for Mexico all night, but Beasley kept plugging away and frustrated Mexico.  Sporting's other call up, Graham Zusi also had an impressive performance defensively, making a nice tackle in the first half and then making a 20 yard sprint to head away a ball at the back post on what would have been a free header on goal. 

That said the US did get lucky to not have a penalty called on Maurice Edu in the second half for a poor challenge in the box.  But overall the night belonged to the US defense and Besler, Gonzalez, and Brad Guzan.

Final Two Friendlies in Mexico

The Wizards have announced their last two friendlies of the teams training down in Mexico. Tonight, the Wizards will play Salamanca FC's reserve team before closing out the Mexico portion of preseason against Salamanca's first team on Tuesday morning. Salamanca is a team playing in Mexico's Primera División A, which is Mexico's second division. They are currently in third place in their group for the 2009 Clausura. Hillcrest says that they'll have a semi running commentary of the game up on the blog tonight.

Wizards in Mexico

The Kansas City Wizards have now left Kansas city and are now in Guadalajara, Mexico and will begin tomorrow training at the facilities of sister club, Atlas. This is the final part of the Wizards preseason before returning to Kansas City and begin preparing for the home opener against Toronto FC on March 21st. The team's full schedule down in Mexico is not known, neither are all the team's games down there, but it appears that Friday in Mexico the Wizards will play either Atlas or Chivas de Guadalajara in Mexico. The obvious choice is that it's a match against sister club Atlas, but who knows, we'll find out soon enough.

Dos a Cero (It's a Way of Life)

I love when things work out the way I want them to. I ask for another dos a cero, and I receive one, with Michael Bradley, hopefully forever ending any nepotism claims proving to be the hero. Not only did Bradley score both goals, but he was man of the match for the United States tonight in their win over Mexico, playing absolutely amazing. Great way to start qualifying.

USA vs Mexico

Unless you've been living under a rock, the US plays Mexico tonight in the opening game of the final round of World Cup Qualifying tonight in Columbus, OH. Unfortunately Down the Byline couldn't make the trip this year, but everyone out there should enjoy the game tonight. Let's get another Dos a Cero going.

For those wanting a place to watch the game, there are plenty of watch parties around KC.

US-Mexico Tonight

While there are no Wizards on the roster for the game, tonight the US play Mexico down in Houston. The US will try to continue their dominance over Mexico outside of Mexico. It should be an entertaining game with young players like Giovani dos Santos of Mexico and Freddy Adu of the USA both expected to feature tonight for their teams. ESPN2 will start broadcasting at 8 pm Central time. Enjoy the game.

Conrad Called Up

Bob Bradley and Jimmy Conrad have to be hoping for lightning to strike twice against Mexico in an early friendly. Last year down in Phoenix, AZ, Conrad scored his first international goal to help lead the US to a 2-0 win over Mexico. This year, Conrad has been called up again for the friendly, this year down in Houston, TX. Due to commitments in Europe, the big name Euro players will not be in until a few days before the match. As always, this will be an intense game between the two teams.

US Take Down Mexico, Win Gold Cup

The United States came from a goal down yesterday to beat rival Mexico 2-1 to win their second consecutive Gold Cup. Jose Andres Guardado scored the opener for Mexico, after Nery Castillo had beaten Oguchi Onyewu and put in a cross to the far post, where Guardado was completely unmarked. It was the first goal scored by Mexico on the US, outside Estadio Azteca since 1999. A span of 9 games, Mexico went scoreless against the US outside of Mexico City.

In the second half, though, the US turned the game around. A long ball in to Brian Ching in the box, led to a PK, after he tried to turn his defender, and was brought down. Landon Donovan stepped up and froze Oswaldo Sanchez on the ensuing PK, to tie the game at 1-1. The US grabbed the lead in the 73rd minute on an absolute GOLAZO by Benny Feilhaber, the video of the goal is below. A Donovan corner was partially cleared by a Mexican defender, out of the box. The header though fell right in line with Feilhaber's run, he one timed it out of the air from about 20-25 yards out, beating Sanchez, and giving the US the 2-1 lead. The US was able to hold on, including a point blank save from Tim Howard on Adolfo Bautista, which lead to a US break for Donovan and Damarcus Beasley. The two had missed a breakaway against Canada on a Donovan wiff. This time it was Beasley who missed, putting his shot on an open net into the cross bar.

Kansas City and Atlas

Remember when I mentioned the note Robb Heineman posted on bigsoccer? And how they were looking to create a partnership with a team "south of the boarder? Well that came true this weekend, as the Wizards announced a partnership with Mexican club Atlas. According to the article, the deal was suppose to be announced in Guadalajara yesterday.

This is a fantastic move by the Wizards in my opinion. It creates a partnership with a recognizable Mexican league team. Along with the partnership is news of other things with the deal. Along with the regular "use of facilities" deal that you usually see with deals like this, Kansas City and Atlas will also participate in a home-home friendly series. This will give KC it's first friendly game at Arrowhead since 1997. While the crowd for this game is likely to be pro-Atlas, it will still be a great experience, and I for one am looking forward to seeing the match, hopefully some time this summer. The other thing that is part of the deal, is loaning of players to and from the clubs. It will be interesting to see how this works, but the interest in the player loaning will be something that will draw interest to many Wizards fans, as we wait and see who would come our way to help our team.

A good point brought up by MLS Underground, is the increased venom this could add to games against Chivas USA, as Atlas is based in Guadalajara, same city that USA's parent club, Chivas de Guadalajara. We'll see how that affects the coming match ups with them this season, if at all.

Another thing that is discussed in the blog that I agree with is the importance that Atlas seems to be putting on this deal, having Wizards staff down for the ceremonial signing of this agreement instead of just having it announced in KC says to me that Atlas is taking this partnership serious as well.

Finally, in the final part of that blog post by MLS Underground, is some "exclusive" information. According to MLS Underground, the Wizards are close to that "big signing" that myself and many others have been talking about, waiting on since about December. The blog mentions 3 areas where the interest seems to be, right back, forward, or attacking midfielder. The entry seems to be leaning towards the 3rd, the attacking midfield position. This is music to Wizards fans ears, as the team has lacked a real attacking minded midfielder since the retirement of Preki. I'm waiting anxiously, as I'm sure many other Wizards fans are for this hopeful announcement to come.