Pochettino's shorthanded USMNT faces a stern test in Mexico: 'We need this type of game'

It speaks to the global respect that Mauricio Pochettino has earned over the course of his 15-year head coaching career that his first match in charge of the United States men's national team — a debut Pochettino won when the Americans beat Panama last weekend — was, because of his mere presence on the sideline, the must-see contest of this month's two-friendly slate.

Tuesday's trip to Mexico remains far more fascinating from a pure soccer perspective. It would be far and away the must-watch normally, as El Tri is the USMNT's oldest and most hated rival.

"Of course it's going to be special," Pochettino said at his pre-match press conference on Monday night. "Special for our fans and special for Mexican fans."

The tilt at 50,000-seat Estadio Akron in Guadalajara will mark the 78th meeting between these North American neighbors, in a series that began nearly a century ago.

El Tri has won 36 of those encounters. But the U.S. has a posted a 21W-13L-13T record against Mexico over the last three decades, including the only meeting at a World: the famous 2-0 "dos a cero" victory in the round of 16 at the 2002 tournament in Korea/Japan.

Now the Americans head into Tuesday riding a historic seven-game unbeaten streak against Mexico. In March, the U.S. beat its chief nemesis in front of a sea of green-clad El Tri supporters in Arlington, Texas to win a third straight Concacaf Nations League crown.

Besting Mexico south of the Rio Grande is another matter entirely, though. Just one USMNT side has ever managed to triumph in Mexico in 28 tries all-time: Jurgen Klinsmann's in a 2012 exhibition at iconic Azteca Stadium, where Mexican-American defender Michael Orozco scored the storybook game-winner.

Like the current U.S. squad, Mexico