Washington (AFP) – Alex Zendejas and Folarin Balogun scored to give the United States a 2-0 victory over Japan while Mexico battled South Korea to a 2-2 draw in international football friendlies on Tuesday. Zendejas scored in the 30th minute and Monaco striker Balogun added an insurance goal in the 64th minute as the Americans improved to 7-6 with one drawn this year with the triumph before 20,192 at Columbus, Ohio.
“Just waiting for my moment,” said Zendejas, a winger for Mexico’s Club America. “It’s crazy to take all this in. I didn’t expect to get called up. Just trying to take advantage of every opportunity.”
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In another football friendly on US soil, AC Milan striker Santiago Gimenez netted the equalizer in the fourth minute of stoppage time to lift Mexico into a draw with South Korea at Nashville, Tennessee. All four teams in action are set for next year’s World Cup, Japan and South Korea through Asian qualifying and the USA and Mexico as co-hosts with Canada of the global showdown. South Korea beat the Americans 2-0 on Saturday, the same day Japan and Mexico played to a goal-less draw.
Japan swapped out all 11 starters from the Mexico draw while US coach Mauricio Pochettino changed five starters from the South Korea defeat. “I’m satisfied because I think the players deserve this result,” Pochettino said. “When you’re strong in your ideas, it’s about moving forward. At the end of the match, I thanked the players and encouraged them to continue improving their teams.”
Japan goalkeeper Keisuke Osako made nine saves in a losing cause while Matt Freese had six for the shutout. “It shows us that it’s working,” Freese said of the triumph. “We all believe in the plan and the process but tangible results like tonight, it just makes it even more obvious. When we’re courageous and we go, when we’re aggressive and play like ourselves, when we can hang with the best and play really good stuff, we’re a difficult team to play against when we’re at our best.”
The Americans grabbed a 1-0 lead when Max Arfsten’s cross from the left wing into the heart of the box was struck with a left-footed volley by Zendejas into the lower left corner of the goal. “Luckily the ball came my way,” Zendejas said. “Coming to my left I had to finish that.” Balogun netted the other goal, taking a through ball down the left side from Christian Pulisic and blasting a left-footed shot from a steep angle into the far side of the goal. “It was important to get the win,” Balogun said. “We’re building something big here. It takes time. The result was the most important thing. Confidence. I think it’s really important. I feel happy with the team’s performance.”
– Mexico ties it late –
At Nashville, Mexico’s Raúl Jiménez, a striker for English Premier League side Fulham, netted a header from the heart of the box into the top right corner in the 22nd minute. Son Heung-min, a former Tottenham star now at Los Angeles FC, lifted South Korea level in the 65th minute, taking a headed pass from Oh Hyeon-gyu and blasting in a left-footed shot. Oh lifted the Koreans ahead 2-1 in the 75th minute, taking a pass from Lee Kang-in, driving down the right side and firing the ball with his right foot just inside the left post. But Giménez had the magic at the finish, sending a left-footed shot from outside the box into the top left corner.
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