It does not matter what the Mexicans throw at them, the Americans have a way of prevailing, no matter what the situation. “When you lose doing what we did, you can’t be sad,” said Mexico coach Hugo Sanchez. “It bothers me, sure. But when you look at how we did in the tournament, we got a lot better and we deserved a better result. Sometimes the team that plays better doesn’t always win.”
The Americans’ unlikely goal-scoring hero was Benny Feilhaber, a 22-year-old midfielder who was a non-scholarship player at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). Feilhaber was making only his eighth international appearance as he scored his second goal for the USA – a volley off a poor clearance that broke a 1-1 tie in the 73rJ minute. Donovan called the goal “Unbelievable. I was wide and a little bit right and as it came I was going, ‘Don’t shoot.’ Maybe one in a thousand scores that goal.”
The venue might have been the Windy City, but the atmosphere at Soldier Field in Chicago was strictly Mexico City as the capacity crowd of 60,000 was essentially a sea of green shirts cheering for the Mexicans, with Sam’s Army, the travelling US soccer supporters, sporting red jerseys, seated behind one of the goals.
Mexico dominated the opening half, with Nery Castillo running wild in midfield as he set up Jose Andres Guardado’s five-yard strike in the 18rh minute. It was Mexico’s first goal against the Americans in the USA since 1999, breaking an amazing 797-minute goalless streak.
“We’ve been talking for about a month about how we need to become a band of brothers, and today we talked about not getting divided,” said USA goalkeeper Tim Howard, who came up with a big save in the dying minutes. “So when that goal went in, we thought ‘If a goal is going to divide us, we’re cooked.’ So we talked about sticking together, showed a lot of character and a lot of heart.”

Defending champions the USA retained their CONCACAF Gold Cup title this year by beating 2003 champions Mexico 2-1 in the final. The biggest surprise was perhaps Guadeloupe, who, as a non-affiliated association, made it as far as the semi-finals.
Many championship games in any sport, including football, do not live up to the hype but the CONCACAF Gold Cup final on 24 June 2007 between USA and Mexico was anything but disappointing. The Americans’ 2-1 victory in what j has become one of the world’s most I intriguing national team rivalries had a little of everything – from high drama and key saves to an unlikely hero.
For both teams, it was a repeat of the usual formula – the home team prevailing on American soil. The USA, for their part, have never won in Mexico. The big prize awaiting them was a trip to South Africa for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.
The USA’s ultimate goal is to return to the African country in 2010 as one of the 32 World Cup finalists. But this victory alone was reward enough. To rub it in even more, the USA came back from behind against Mexico for the first time in their 73-year rivalry covering 53 matches. Moreover, the Mexicans have not won in the USA since 13 March 1999, when they recorded a 2-1 victory in San Diego.
“It was nice to win the Gold Cup, but it’s always a little sweeter when we beat Mexico,” said defender and USA captain Carlos Bocanegra. “We came from behind. It’s nice we drained their spirits.”
“Awesome. Awesome!” said Landon Donovan, whose 62lui-minute penalty kick levelled the score and tied him with Eric Wynalda for the all-time USA goal-scoring record with 34 goals. “It’s weird. You get into the game and you almost forget it’s a final because it’s Mexico again. But we realised at half-time that this is the last 45 minutes. It’s not that you’re in a qualifying competition and you have more games to play. This is it. It’s now or never.”

Clarence Seedorf has won the UEFA Champions League four times with three different clubs – twice with AC Milan and once each with Real Madrid and Ajax.
1994-1995 Ajax
Group stage
Ajax v. AC Milan 2-0
AEK Athens v. Ajax 1-2
Salzburg v. Ajax 0-0
Ajax v. Salzburg 1-1
AC Milan v. Ajax 0-2
Ajax v. AEK Athens 2-0
Quarter-final
Hajduk Split v. Ajax 0-0
Ajaxv. Hajduk Split 3-0
Semi-final
Bayern Munich v. Ajax 0-0
Ajax v. Bayern Munich 5-2
Final (Vienna)
Ajax v. AC Milan 1-0
1997-1998 Real Madrid
Group stage
Real Madrid v. Rosenborg 4-1
Porto v. Real Madrid 0-2
Real Madrid v. Olympiakos 5-1
Olympiakos v. Real Madrid 0-0
Rosenborg v. Real Madrid 2-0
Real Madrid v. Porto 4-0
Quarter-final
Bayer Leverkusen v. Real Madrid 1-1
Real Madrid v. Bayer Leverkusen 3-0
Semi-final
Real Madrid v. Borussia Dortmund 2-0
Borussia Dortmund v. Real Madrid 0-0
Final (Amsterdam)
Real Madrid v. Juventus 1-0

2002-2003 AC Milan
First group stage
AC Milan v. Lens 2-1
Deportivo La Coruna v. AC Milan 0-4
Bayern Munich v. AC Milan 1-2
AC Milan v. Bayern Munich 2-1
Lens v. AC Milan 2-1
AC Milan v. Deportivo La Coruna 1-2
Second group stage
AC Milan v. Real Madrid 1-0
Borussia Dortmund v. AC Milan 0-1
AC Milan v. Lokomotiv Moscow 1-0
Lokomotiv Moscow v. AC Milan 0-1
Real Madrid v. AC Milan 3-1
AC Milan v. Borussia Dortmund 0-1
Quarter-final
Ajax v. AC Milan 0-0
AC Milan v. Ajax 3-2
Semi-final
AC Milan v. Inter Milan 0-0
Inter Milan v. AC Milan 1-1
Final (Manchester)
Juventus v. AC Milan 0-0 a.e.t. (2-3 on penalties)

2006-2007 AC Milan
Third qualifying round
AC Milan v. Red Star Belgrade 1-0
Red Star Belgrade v. AC Milan 1-2
Group stage
AC Milan v. AEK Athens 3-0
Lille v. AC Milan 0-0
Anderlecht v. AC Milan 0-1
AC Milan v. Anderlecht 4-1
AEK Athens v. AC Milan 1-0
AC Milan v. Lille 0-2
Round of 16
Celtic v. AC Milan 0-0
AC Milan v. Celtic 1-0 after extra time
Quarter-final
AC Milan v. Bayern Munich 2-2
Bayern Munich v. AC Milan 0-2
Semi-final
Manchester United v. AC Milan 3-2
AC Milan v. Manchester United 3-0
Final (Athens)
AC Milan v. Liverpool 2-1