Boiling over

U.S. wins as latest battle with neighbor raises temperatures

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CHONJU, South Korea (Reuters) -- The United States players expected a battle and got one when they faced rivals Mexico for a place in the last eight at the World Cup on Monday.

Goals by Brian McBride and Landon Donovan earned the U.S. a quarterfinal against Germany and sent Mexico out in the second round for the third successive tournament.

The U.S. tactics of sitting deep to absorb the Mexican attacks before striking dangerously on the break caused their opponents immense frustration and all too often it boiled over.

The game featured 10 yellow cards -- five each -- and one straight red for Mexican skipper Rafael Marquez, who head-butted American substitute Cobi Jones two minutes from time.

It was tense from the start with the tackles flying in and the overreactions, from both sides, to match.

U.S. striker Josh Wolff's welcome on his first start of the tournament was a full set of studs in the kidneys, while Eddie Pope and Mexico's Manuel Vidrio were the first into the book for ill-timed tackles.

The off-the-ball spite, often unseen by the officials, raised the temperature further and it reached boiling point early in the second half when the aggrieved Mexicans had a penalty appeal for handball turned down.

It was the Americans' turn to get angry when striker Luis Hernandez then produced an outrageous dive in the box and was booked for his troubles.

U.S. defender Pablo Mastroeni, who had been booked for a foul on Cuauhtemoc Blanco just after the break, caught the Mexican forward with another late challenge and he responded by kneeing the U.S. defender in the back to also collect a booking.

Ten minutes later Alberto Garcia Aspe came on as a 79th-minute substitute and within three minutes was shown a yellow card for a wild lunge at substitute Cobi Jones.

The busy midfielder was the victim again as Marquez landed a clear head-butt to the side of his face and the Mexican received a straight red to add to his yellow for an earlier foul.

Jones took more heavy punishment as he tried to run out time in the corner, the referee's view of some nasty challenges obscured only by the number of players dishing them out.

When the final whistle blew there was barely a handshake between the two sets of players as the Mexicans headed immediately for the tunnel.

Coach Bruce Arena, however, played down the physical aspects of the match, saying it was "to be expected in a game of such importance. It's part of the game, I have no problem with it."

 

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