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U.S. beats Mexico 2-0 again, Stanford's Jordan Morris scores in first start

U.S. beats Mexico 2-0 again, Stanford's Jordan Morris scores in first start

Dos a cero.

For the eighth time since the turn of the century, the United States men's national team bested its arch-rival by a score of two to zero. Four of those victorie have come in World Cup qualifiers in Columbus, Ohio. One was famously recorded in the round of 16 of the 2002 World Cup in South Korea. And on Wednesday, it manifested for a third time during a friendly on American soil.

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Over the years, the scoreline has developed on a mystical and symbolic quality, taking on a life of its own. The U.S. fans like to sing the Spanish translation of it ad nauseam – the better to drive their point home. And they did so again in San Antonio after strikers Jordan Morris, a collegian making his full debut, and Juan Agudelo, long absent from the national team picture as he wandered Europe, delivered the goals.

The question, now, is what that result is worth. "The field is really bad," U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann warned before the game. "For both teams."

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Indeed it was. The absurdly bobbly field, laid over the concrete floor of the Alamodome, at times made it feel like this game was being played on the decaying set of some long-abandoned Japanese game show. They were, frankly, circus-like conditions, underscoring the credible notion that this game was a glorified cash grab, putting the only regional rivalry that moves the needle in an unsuitable venue in southern Texas.

Predictably, this delivered an ugly first half. While it was predictably frantic and frenzied for a contest between these two hateful opponents – even if the intensity of the rivalry has been dialed down in recent years, and the European-based players were mostly absent – this was as much a credit to the fans as the action on the field. For the wretched sod simply made it hard to play anything resembling decent, international-level soccer. Or something even close to it. You would have an easier time shooting a game of pool in a gravel pit.

Still, the Americans were aggressive and willing early on, heeding Klinsmann's orders of taking the game to their opponents. But it yielded nary a chance in the first half. Then again, Mexico didn't produce much more than a few hopeful shots either. Except for a 40th-minute Gerardo Flores run up the right, whose cross was put into the side netting of the near post by Eduardo Herrera, there was nary a goal-scoring opportunity in the first act.

The Americans came out of the locker room looking sprightly for the second half. And within just four minutes, they would capitalize. Michael Bradley won the ball in the middle of the park, somehow didn't lose it to the field, and laid it off to Gyasi Zardes. The forward's backwards pass caromed off a defender and skipped into the space ahead of the fleet-footed Morris, who gratefully took a touch, settled behind the ball and slid it underneath goalkeeper Cirilo Saucedo and into the net. He raced off, jumped and deliriously punched the air.

When Agudelo came on as a substitute in his return to the national team, now that he's finally resuscitated his club career by rejoining the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer, Klinsmann had apparently told him to get him a goal. He delivered in the 72nd minute. He received a long pass, moved inside with it, carved some space open between defenders, and hit his finish toward the near post, where it bested Saucedo.

But whatever weight you give to the many qualifiers and mitigating circumstances that this win should be couched in, the victory is a welcome one all the same. In six of their last eight games prior to this one, the Americans had taken a lead into the final half hour of the game and given it away. They didn't on Wednesday. And in their last 15 games, they had given up a goal in the 80th minute or later 14 times. They didn't on Wednesday.

What's more, the Americans had won just one of their last eight games. And a mere two from their last 12. So in that light, any win is precious, even if it comes in a friendly on a surface as likely to end a career as launch one.

In the end, the Americans got a winner from the first collegian on its team since Chris Albright in 1999. Morris, of Stanford University, continued to adjust to the immense gap in the speed of play from the Pac-12 to international soccer. He moved into the available spaces well and made speculative runs in behind the Mexican defense.

With his first international goal coming in the form of a match-winner against Mexico, Morris was remarkably composed following the game. "Scoring a goal against them is something I dreamed about since I was a little kid," he told FOX Sports 1. "To be able to make it happen is unbelievable."

When Klinsmann had first started calling in a college player – especially after all his talk of needing his national teamers to play at the highest possible level – the general response was incredulous. But Morris vindicated him on Wednesday. And he might yet prove worthy of such special treatment.

If the Americans take nothing else away from this game, at least there's that.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.