There were no victorious viking thunderclaps in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
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El Tri beat Iceland 1-0 in an international friendly at Sam Boyd Stadium, with Alan Pulido’s goal from Giovani dos Santos’ free kick enough to lift Mexico past a virtual Iceland reserve team (Gylfi Sigurdsson, Aron Gunnarsson and Kolbeinn Sigthorsson were all missing) in the game played in the non-FIFA match window.
This encounter was a valuable exercise for Mexico as they continue to step up their preparations for the massive 2018 World Cup qualifiers against Costa Rica and Trinidad and Tobago next month.
Like the U.S. national team in their recent January camp and friendlies against Serbia and Jamaica, none of Mexico’s European contingent were called up for their first game of 2017. It gave Juan Carlos Osorio plenty of time to assess players from Liga MX, with
Below are the highlights from the game, including Pulido’s header which was his first goal for Mexico since 2014 and the Chivas Guadalajara forward now has five goals in eight appearances for El Tri.
Looks like Mexico, who sit second in the Hexagonal in World Cup qualifying on four points, is gearing up well for their huge qualifier against Costa Rica (currently top of the Hex on six points) at the Azetca on Mar. 24.
Las mejores acciones de nuestra primera victoria del año las encuentras en #LaHistoriaDelPartido: México 1-0 Islandia#PasiónyOrgullo pic.twitter.com/k4CHWZt9Kq
— Selección Nacional (@miseleccionmx) February 9, 2017