Mexico City, Mexico (My Sportsbook) - Substitute Miguel Sabah scored in the 81st minute to lead Mexico to a 2-1 win over the United States at Estadio Azteca in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying on Wednesday.
Charlie Davies gave the Americans the lead nine minutes into the game, but a fantastic strike from 25 yards by Mexico's Israel Castro in the 19th minute leveled the score before Sabah picked up a loose ball inside the box with nine minutes to play and slammed it into the roof of the net.
The result leaves Mexico one point behind the USA and in third place in CONCACAF, while the Americans are two points back of Costa Rica, which has played one less game.
The Azteca once again proved to be a house of horrors for the United States, which dropped to 0-23-1 in games played south of the border, although things started quite well for the visitors.
Landon Donovan set up the opening goal by picking up the ball in midfield and sliding a pass in behind the Mexican defense to Davies, who got into the box and curled his shot around goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa.
It was a dream start for the U.S., but Mexico found an answer 10 minutes later when Castro was given room 25 yards from goal to fire a rocket past goalkeeper Tim Howard. The ball struck the bottom of the crossbar but still found its way across the goal line, evening things up at 1-1.
Giovani Dos Santos then rolled a shot inches wide for Mexico that would have put his team up at halftime, and he was given another chance shortly after the restart to put Mexico ahead.
Dos Santos was left open at the back post, but he brought down a left-wing cross very slowly, and then fired straight at Howard, squandering a good scoring chance.
The Americans seemed content to sit back and defend, hoping to leave with a point, but they were punished with nine minutes left when Efrain Juarez made a good run down the right wing.
Juarez was able to dribble the ball into the area, and he drew defender Jay DeMerit to him as he got to the end line. This left Sabah open in front of goal and he collected the loose ball and smashed it under the crossbar to seal an important win for the home side.
