Dumb tactics? Yes. But Mexico still should have lost

History was made Friday night. Jurgen Klinsmann added another chapter to his illustrious reign as U.S. boss. He already guided the U.S. to our first loss ever against Jamaica back in 2012.  He did one better by losing to Jamaica yet again in last year's Gold Cup semifinals.

Now he's the first coach to lose a home qualifier in Columbus  against Mexico after Friday's 2-1 defeat. And it's clear that the new "3-4-3" with Christian Pulisic playing centrally was a horribly naive decision. Things improved when Andres Guardado got hurt and the U.S. went back to the familiar 4-4-2 thereafter with Pulisic operating on the wing.

So yes, Klinsmann blew the start of the game. But U.S. fans have long known the team needs to perform better to overcome his tactical insanity. The real question is should the U.S. still have won this contest?

We here at IMOTGP say a resounding yes because after Bobby Wood's equalizer, this was no contest. And what was exposed was the fragility of the Mexicans. It's not hard to see why this is a team that lost 7-0.   This blog was shocked at how meek and mentally shot Mexico was the game required just an ounce of grit. And the fouling and yellow cards that came with that during the portion of the match in which they were outplayed was evidence of that.

This has been described as one of the "most talented" Mexican teams ever. Well we still see the same one. Chicharito - so sublime at Bayer Leverkusen - was a complete non-factor. Outside of the first half hour in which Mexico were so superior because the U.S. was lost in a trash formation, the visitors brought little to the table, were yelling at each other and looked like they wanted to hide.

Of course, one last tactical mistake - not having a player on the back post in the 89th minute - proved to be the undoing for the U.S. But it's likely the team under Klinsmann doesn't practice such set-piece defending, more likely choosing instead to drill formations that are unusable. Still, let's not hail Mexico for this performance when they were abject for half the contest. Their frailties remain. Bravo to them for getting three points on the road against the U.S. but what this contest proved yet again is that CONCACAF remains a footballing minnow.