Stakes high for USA

Washington: Mexico’s Gold Cup triumph will not be complete without a victory over the United States in an October playoff for a 2017 Confederations Cup berth, Mexico manager Miguel Herrera says.

And US coach Jurgen Klinsmann, whose players settled for a fourth-place showing in their Gold Cup defense, knows that a major goal remains within reach despite a humbling loss to Jamaica and penalty shoot-out defeat by Panama in the Gold Cup.

The archrivals will meet October 9 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena to see whether the 2013 or 2015 Gold Cup winner represents the North American region at the eight-team World Cup warm-up event in Russia.

While the US squad has the home soil edge, typical crowds at the 90,000-seat venue for US-Mexico clashes have shown stronger support for Mexico. And El Tricolores own a 33-18 with 14 draws edge in the all-time rivalry.

The Americans already have friendlies set for September against Brazil and Peru. “It’s clear we’re looking toward September and those two friendly games to build things in order to be prepared for the playoff in October,” Klinsmann said.

The Americans would have clinched the spot in Russia in 2017 has they repeated as Gold Cup champions. “We didn’t use that opportunity to finish things off in this tournament so we have to finish it off in October. If there’s a rise in expectations, that’s totally cool,” said Klinsmann.

“There’s constant expectation, constant pressure for everybody. That’s just normal. It’s part of our job.”

For Klinsmann, the match offers a chance to see how well newcomers mesh with veterans in the lineup. “This team will grow, this team will get better,” the former German head coach said. “Our goal is to move things forward, to become a little more proactive and not too reactive.”