CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE:

DOS A CERO

The birth of the rivalry between US Men’s National Team and Mexico wasn’t a rivalry at all for decades. But then, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, that all changed. The US became competitive with its neighbor to the south and finally established itself as not only a threat to Mexico’s CONCACAF dominance, but eventually as the regions strongest team.

The biggest game in that progression, and one that is most largely responsible for the “Dos a Cero” moniker was the USMNT 2-0 defeat of Mexico in the 2002 World Cup knockout round. That game propelled American soccer into the international spotlight in a new way and changed the nature of its rivalry with El Tri.

David Sarachan was an assistant coach for the US on that World Cup team. He joined Founding Futbol to share his memories of how the rivalry emerged and why the USMNT performance at the 2002 World Cup was so impressive.