NEW YORK: Christian Pulisic scored late in the first half and early in the second, Ricardo Pepi added a late goal and the United States beat Mexico 3-0 on Thursday night to reach the CONCACAF Nations League final against Canada.
Pulisic made his first start for club or country since April 15, put the U.S. ahead in the 37th minute and doubled the lead in the 46th. He has 25 goals in 59 international appearances, including four goals against Mexico. Pepi scored in the 79th, five minutes after entering.
The U.S, and Mexico each finished with nine players after Weston McKennie, Sergiño Dest, César Montes and Gerardo Arteaga received red cards in a testy second half that included play being stopped in the 90th minute by Salvadoran referee Iván Barton because of homophobic chants. After the chants resumed, Barton ended the match in the eighth minute of 12 scheduled minutes of stoppage time.
With its first three-goal victory over Mexico in 23 years, the U.S. stretched its unbeaten streak against El Tri to six (three wins, three draws), matching the Americans’ longest, from 2011-15.
B.J. Callaghan coached his first game as the second U.S. interim coach after Anthony Hudson quit to join a Qatari club.
Folarin Balogun made his debut, starting at forward after the 21-year-old decided to play for the U.S. over England and Nigeria. Agencies
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