By Seth Vertelney, Goal.com
The pressure will be directly on Mexico, which comes into the rivalry match with zero wins from its first two qualifiers.
Mexico (4-2-3-1): Ochoa; Torres Nilo, Ayala, Moreno, Meza; Salcido, Zavala; Guardado, dos Santos, Aquino; Hernandez.
ROSTER
GOALKEEPERS: Guillermo Ochoa (Ajaccio), Jesús Corona (Cruz Azul), Alfredo Talavera (Toluca)
DEFENDERS: Severo Meza (Monterrey), Jonny Magallón (León), Francisco Javier Rodríguez (América), Héctor Moreno (Espanyol), Hugo Ayala (Tigres), Diego Reyes (América), Jorge Torres Nilo (Tigres), Carlos Salcido (Tigres)
MIDFIELDERS: Jesús Zavala (Monterrey), Gerardo Torrado (Cruz Azul), Jesús Molina (América), Héctor Herrera (Pachuca), Javier Aquino (Villarreal), Andrés Guardado (Valencia), Ángel Reyna (Pachuca)
FORWARDS: Giovani dos Santos (Mallorca), Oribe Peralta (Santos Laguna), Javier Hernández (Manchester United), Omar Bravo (Atlas), Raúl Jiménez (América)
USA (4-2-3-1): Guzan; Beasley, Gonzalez, Goodson, Cameron; Edu, Bradley; Gomez, Dempsey, Zusi; Altidore.
ROSTER
GOALKEEPERS: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS: Tony Beltran (Real Salt Lake), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Justin Morrow (San Jose Earthquakes)
MIDFIELDERS: DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla), Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Roma), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Maurice Edu (Bursaspor), Jermaine Jones (Schalke), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht), Brek Shea (Stoke City), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)
FORWARDS: Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar), Terrence Boyd (Rapid Vienna), Clint Dempsey (Tottenham Hotspur), Herculez Gomez (Santos), Eddie Johnson (Seattle Sounders FC)
- This is the third match of the Hexagonal for each team. The United States lost its opener 2-1 away to Honduras, then won 1-0 in a blizzard in Denver against Costa Rica. Mexico shockingly drew Jamaica 0-0 at home before tying Honduras 2-2 away.
- Mexico will be without starting center back Francisco "Maza" Rodríguez due to yellow card accumulation. For the U.S., Jermaine Jones sprained his left ankle against Costa Rica and will miss out.
- In the last meeting between these two teams, Michael Orozco Fiscal scored late to give the U.S. a 1-0 friendly win at the Azteca Stadium in August 2012. It was the first win for the USA on Mexican soil after 75 years of trying.
- Clint Dempsey scored his 32nd goal for the U.S. against Costa Rica. He is now only two goals behind second-placed Eric Wynalda (34) and 17 behind all-time leader Landon Donovan (49).
- With two goals against Honduras, Chicharito moved into sixth place in Mexico national team history with 30. Jared Borgetti is in first place with 46 goals.
- The U.S. is 1-23-1 all-time in Mexico and 1-8-1 all-time at the Estadio Azteca. Other than the friendly win, the only time the Americans have not lost in Mexico was a 0-0 draw in a 1997 World Cup qualifier.