Mexico beats Honduras 3-0, closes in on World Cup berth

Carlos Vela cancelled out Michael Bradley's sensational opener at the Estadio Azteca on Sunday.

Mexican had not beaten Honduras in Azteca Stadium since September 2010.

The U.S. scored on a wonder goal from Michael Bradley in the sixth minute. As has become tradition with the USA and World Cup qualifiers as of late, they can't afford to slip up.

El Tri will undoubtedly be favored in the anticipated clash since it's sitting pretty atop the table and topped the Stars and Stripes 2-1 last time out in November, but Osorio will have to prepare his squad for a Red, White and Blue team that's building confidence after Christian Pulisic notched a brace Thursday night against Trinidad and Tobago. So, we're really confident going into that game. I don't think its lost on any USMNT fan or player for that matter just how tough it is to play at the Azteca. But our team really did an excellent job with our tactical plan.

Maybe Arena is telling the truth, but certainly tensions could rise depending on whether or not Dempsey is in the lineup come Sunday. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on that in the comments section. At the time, he didn't even realize he was the first opposing player to score a World Cup Qualifying goal at Azteca. With the remainder of the games in this round being played on Tuesday, it's possible the US could fall to fourth, but Arena said he was pleased with the progress his team has made since taking over at the end of past year.

"Having been born in Germany, I'd have loved to have been part of a World Cup team representing the U.S.in the country of my birth and it never happened", Roy said. "He's been successful in MLS, successful with the US team before and he knows the players, so that was a good choice as far as I'm concerned".

Arena said he had been planning to play what he called a 3-4-3 formation - though it looked more like 5-4-1 when defending - back in "January or February". The U.S. was 0-19-1 in Mexico City — getting outscored 81-14 — before a 1-0 exhibition win in 2012. We have very good center-backs and that's a key to that system. What was a pleasant surprise is just how effective those players were and how well the team worked together after a slow opening portion of the contest.

"We've been training that way for the last week to ten days". Diego Reyes has over 40 caps to his name, but in total this El Tri defense has 76 worldwide games total; for comparison, the U.S. defense that played against Trinidad and Tobago had a combined 135 caps.

Both teams have little recovery time from qualifiers on Thursday.

"Our players were well aware of the fact that we were going to make changes". "We know the ref probably won't be on our side". He scored the victor in Columbus, the last time these two teams met late a year ago.

Arena also has been impressed at the way the team has become more cohesive since he took over in January, and especially in the last two World Cup qualifying fixture periods.

The German-born wingback had received his first cap just nine months earlier, after his change-of-nation papers cleared Federation Internationale de Football Association, and had become the first-choice left back under Jurgen Klinsmann, who used him on the right side at Azteca.

"The older players who weren't on the field were very supportive of their teammates", he said. Sure there are younger more talented players on this Mexican team but there's just something about Marquez that gives me and many other USMNT a bad feeling.