[beineke]

The Mexican Fed does a great job of providing a list of in-game events. In spite of the 4-0 whooping, I dug into the recent U-23 qualifier we played there. (For the non-Spanish speakers, however, this link might not be so helpful.)

http://docs.femexfut.org.mx/Estadistica/OA/4EstO14A.pdf

Observations
Coming out Physically
Prior to the first goal, each team had commited five fouls. However, that's not the full story. Eight of the ten fouls were in the US attacking half. We didn't commit a single foul in the defensive half until after two goals had been scored. Their defenders came out physically -- ours didn't. We also didn't commit fouls to break up their attack.

Balls Won
Mexico 38
USA 16
Ouch!

The Catch-Punch
The Mexican keeper broke up 6 of 18 US crosses and corners (33%), including two while the game was scoreless. Countess only got to 3 of 25 (12%).

Working the ball forward

Even before the first goal, Mexico's defenders were dramatically better in possession, with eight of the games first nine cross-field passes on the back line. Throughout the game, Mexico's keeper distributed short balls, while Countess distributed long balls that the Mexican defenders won virtually every time.

Lost Balls

Since the US rarely gained possession, they also had fewer lost balls. But the distribution is instructive, IMO.

US 24: 9 Long passes, 8 bad passes, 7 failure to control the ball
Mex 39: 12 bad passes, 9 on the dribble, 8 failure to control, 5 long passes, 3 crosses into the box, 2 bad switches

Mexico was dramatically more varied in what they tried to do with the ball. They also had better touch. Despite having little possession, the US gave away the ball almost as many times due to poor control.

[mpruitt]

jesus. the mexicans can come up with numbers like that and we dont?

[microbrew]

Does the Mexican federation keep stats like that for all of their games? Or any other federation or national league? If we could find an archive of this stuff...

[beineke]

Originally posted by microbrew
Does the Mexican federation keep stats like that for all of their games? Or any other federation or national league? If we could find an archive of this stuff...

They do (in pdf format), but they don't seem to archive them from one season to the next ... at least not for public consumption.