| 2021 CONCACAF Nations League final | |
| Event: | 2020 CONCACAF Nations League Finals |
| Team1: | United States |
| Team1score: | 3 |
| Team2: | Mexico |
| Team2score: | 2 |
| Details: | After extra time |
| Stadium: | Empower Field at Mile High |
| City: | Denver, Colorado, United States |
| Referee: | John Pitti (Panama) |
| Attendance: | 37,648 |
| Next: | 2023 |
The 2021 CONCACAF Nations League final was a soccer match that determined the winners of the final tournament of the 2019–20 CONCACAF Nations League. It was the inaugural final of the CONCACAF Nations League, an international soccer competition involving the men's national teams of the member associations of CONCACAF.
The United States won the final 3–2 after extra time to become the first champions of the CONCACAF Nations League.[1] [2]
The match was originally scheduled to be held on June 7, 2020, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States.[3] On April 3, 2020, the final tournament was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4]
On July 27, 2020, CONCACAF announced that the Nations League Finals would be held in March 2021,[5] though on September 22, 2020, CONCACAF announced that the event was again rescheduled until June 2021.[6] [7]
The final was played at Empower Field at Mile High, an American football venue in Denver, Colorado. The venue seats 76,125 spectators, although COVID-19 regulations at the time of the match artificially reduced capacity by 50%. It is primarily used by the Denver Broncos of the National Football League, but had previously hosted the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. Empower Field at Mile High had also hosted two matches of the Gold Cup group stage in 2013, 2015, and 2019. CONCACAF announced its selection of Empower Field at Mile High as the venue for the CONCACAF Nations League Finals on April 15, 2021.[8]
Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).
| United States | Round | Mexico | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opponents | Result | League phase | Opponents | Result | |
| 7–0 (H) | Match 1 | 5–1 (A) | |||
| 0–2 (A) | Match 2 | 3–1 (H) | |||
| 4–1 (H) | Match 3 | 3–0 (A) | |||
| 4–0 (A) | Match 4 | 2–1 (H) | |||
| Group A winners | Final standings | Group B winners | |||
| Opponents | Result | Nations League Finals | Opponents | Result | |
| 1–0 | Semi-finals | ||||
The Nations League Final was broadcast in the United States on the CBS Sports Network and Paramount+ in English and on Univision in Spanish. The Univision broadcast drew a 0.8 Nielsen rating, peaking at approximately 1.96 million viewers and tying a Celebrity Family Feud broadcast for the most-watched primetime broadcast of the day.[9] The match was broadcast in Mexico by Televisa and in Canada by OneSoccer.[10]
Mexico wasted little time opening the scoring, as forward Jesús Corona intercepted a poor pass by US defender Mark McKenzie in the attacking third and fired a shot past goalkeeper Zack Steffen into the back of the net just over a minute into the contest. Mexico continued to apply pressure and appeared to double their lead when Héctor Moreno headed the ball into the back of the net off a free kick, but the VAR judged Moreno to be offside, and the goal was disallowed.
Four minutes later, the United States equalized when a Christian Pulisic corner kick found the head of Weston McKennie. While his attempt at goal struck the post, the rebound fell to Giovanni Reyna, who easily scored from close range to make it 1–1, which would stand as the scoreline until halftime.
The United States made several threatening attempts to take the lead off set pieces, notably two headed attempts at goal by McKennie and McKenzie, both of which required impressive diving saves by Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa. In the 67th minute, Zack Steffen suffered an injury and was replaced by Ethan Horvath.
In the 79th minute, Mexico substitute Diego Lainez broke the deadlock mere minutes after coming on, dribbling past US defender Tim Ream before slotting a left-footed shot beyond the outstretched arms of Horvath to restore Mexico's lead. However, three minutes later, the US equalized again, as McKennie headed a Reyna corner that grazed the fingertips of Ochoa but ultimately found the net, making the score 2–2. Following an acrobatic diving save by Horvath, denying Hirving Lozano a would-be winner in stoppage time, and a brief delay due to offensive chants from the Mexican crowd, the full-time whistle sounded and the match proceeded into extra time.
Mexico controlled most of the game in the first extra session but could not convincingly threaten the United States' goal, and the first 15 minutes ended goalless.
In the second period, Pulisic was brought down in the box. While play initially continued, VAR eventually alerted the referee, who awarded a penalty to the US after consulting the review monitor. In the 114th minute, Pulisic successfully converted the spot kick with a strike into the upper-right corner of the goal, giving the US their first lead of the match, 3–2.
Immediately, Pulisic took off his shirt, running towards the left-side corner flag, joined in celebration by his teammates, and taunting the Mexico fans by putting a finger to his lips. Some fans responded by throwing projectiles onto the pitch toward the US players, one of which hit Reyna in the head. Reyna briefly fell to the ground in pain but was ultimately not seriously injured.
Mexico had one final chance to send the match to a penalty shoot-out, which would have been the first in the 87-year history of the Mexico-United States rivalry. With time winding down, a header from a Mexican corner struck the hand of McKenzie inside the box. This was initially unnoticed, but following consultation with VAR, the referee awarded Mexico a penalty. In stoppage time, Mexico captain Andrés Guardado stepped up to take the penalty, which was saved by Horvath. Minutes later, the final whistle sounded, giving the United States their first non-friendly victory over their arch-rivals since a World Cup qualifier in 2013, and their first defeat of Mexico in a CONCACAF final since the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup final.
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| Man of the Match: Ethan Horvath (United States)[11] [12]
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|}
| Statistic | United States | Mexico | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goals scored | 3 | 2 | |
| Total shots | 13 | 18 | |
| Shots on target | 7 | 7 | |
| Saves | 5 | 4 | |
| Ball possession | 41% | 59% | |
| Corner kicks | 6 | 4 | |
| Fouls committed | 18 | 13 | |
| Offsides | 2 | 5 | |
| Yellow cards | 5 | 3 | |
| Red cards | 0 | 1 |