MIAMI, Florida – A new chapter in the long-standing and historic rivalry between the United States and Mexico will be written on Sunday when the two North American neighbors meet in the Final of the 2023-24 Concacaf Nations League Finals on Sunday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Since the inception of the Concacaf Nations League in 2019-20, the only team to have lifted the trophy is the U.S., who claimed the first edition in 2021 and then repeated as champions for the 2022-23 season.
The U.S. will hope to make it a ‘three-peat’ on Sunday and face Mexico for the second time in the Final of the CNL Finals. These two sides played in the inaugural Final in 2021 in what was a memorable affair, with the U.S. winning 3-2 in extra time. A year ago, in the 2023 CNL Finals the U.S. defeated Mexico 3-0 in the semifinal stage.
The reigning champions carved their way into Sunday’s Final thanks to a last-second equalizing goal in regular time against Jamaica in Thursday’s semifinal. The U.S. then rode a Haji Wright brace in extra time to earn a 3-1 victory against the Reggae Boyz.
While it was largely a frustrating outing for the U.S., the champions found a way to find the crucial tying goal and then made the most of the extra period with Wright’s two goals, helped by dynamic midfield playmaker Gio Reyna, who assisted on both.
The two assists for Reyna now give him an incredible four assists in his last two CNL Finals matches after he contributed two assists in the 2023 Final versus Canada.
Mexico got very good performances at both ends in their 3-0 semifinal win against Panama. El Tricolor enjoyed goals from Edson Alvarez and Julian Quinones in the latter stages of the first half, followed by an Orbelin Pineda strike in the second half.
Legendary GK Guillermo Ochoa was his usual high-performing self in big Concacaf matches, making six saves to record a clean sheet against the Canaleros.
A third straight CNL Finals meeting between these two decorated teams should provide a powerful exclamation point to a memorable 2023-24 CNL.
Post-match data
USA v Jamaica
Haji Wright (USA) is the 1st player to score a brace in extra time in CNL history, and they were his first goals in the CNL.
With this victory, the United States ended a streak of 2 consecutive defeats in any competition. They had lost to Trinidad & Tobago 2-1 in the 2024 Nations League with goals from Reon Moore 43’ and Alvin Jones 57’ for the "socca warriors" and Antonee Robinson 25’ for USA, and the friendly match against Slovenia 0-1 with a goal from Nejc Gradišar 26’, on January 20, 2024.
The United States has 3 losses in their last 5 matches (3L-2W). They hadn't suffered 3 losses within a span of 5 games since 2018 when they lost 2-4 against Colombia (friendly on October 11, 2018, with goals from Kellyn Acosta 50’ and Bobby Wood 50’ for USA, while James Rodríguez 36’, Carlos Bacca 56’, Radamel Falcao 74’, and Miguel Borja 79’ scored for Colombia), lost 0-3 against England (friendly on November 15, 2018, with goals from Jesse Lingard 25’, Trent Alexander-Arnold 27’, and Callum Wilson 77’), and lost 0-1 against Italy (friendly on November 20, 2018, with a solitary goal from Matteo Politano 90’).
Mexico v Panama
Mexico secured their 2nd consecutive victory in the CNL, having won 3 out of their last 4 matches in CNL history.
Édson Álvarez (MEX) scored his 3rd goal in the CNL in 9 games, equaling José Juan Macías as the top scorers in the CNL.
Orbelín Pineda (MEX) scored his 2nd goal in CNL history.
Julián Quiñónez (MEX) scored his 1st goal in CNL history and with the Mexico national team.
It's the 2nd victory for Mexico in their last 4 matches in all competitions (2W-2D). Mexico hadn't achieved 2 wins and 2 victories in an alternating manner (D-W-D-W) since 2007 when they lost to Paraguay 0-1 (friendly with a goal from Óscar Cardozo 88’), won 2-1 against Cuba (Gold Cup with goals from Jared Borguetti 38’ and Nery Castillo 56’ for Mexico and Reiner Alcántara 22’ for Cuba), lost 1-2 against Honduras (Gold Cup with goals from Cuauhtémoc Blanco 29’ for Mexico and Carlo Costly 60’ and 90’ for Honduras), and won 1-0 against Panama (Gold Cup with a goal from Carlos Salcido 60’).
