U.S. Soccer and the Mexican federation have seen the value, financial and otherwise, of a high-profile set-to once a year, usually early in the calendar. It’s the one occasion when the pressure of a friendly reaches critical mass — nearly enough to simulate the weight of a match that truly matters.

And that’s why everyone should savor U.S.-Mexico. Any U.S.-Mexico.

So what if the game won’t affect either team’s standing in World Cup qualifying? So what if no one is likely to lose his job over the result. (Well, it is Mexico, so you can never tell.) This match means something, as the two biggest bullies on the CONCACAF block (keep trying, Canada!) skirmish anew in the fluid claim for regional supremacy. More than 53,000 tickets to the U.S.-Mexico Soccer Game have been sold for the shootout inside Houston’s mammoth Reliant Stadium.

read more [espn.go.com]