Stars and Stripes FC · Aug 16, 2018
Throwback Thursday: Gooch stares down Borgetti, USMNT beats Mexico
It was a warm night in Columbus, Ohio on September 3, 2005, and the United States were taking on Mexico in a 2006 World Cup qualifier. The match was highly anticipated as the CONCACAF rivals sought to find out who would hold bragging rights over the other as they moved through the rest of the Hexagonal round. In the 9th minute, a long ball by Mexico down the left side found Jared Borgetti, who got tangled up with the USMNT’s Oguchi Onyewu and fell to the ground as he committed a foul against the young American defender. Immediately, Borgetti got up to get in the face of Onyewu as a form of intimidation and to send the message that Mexico was in charge. However, Gooch had a message of his own to send to Borgetti as the Mexican defender approached him, and that message was: I’m not the one to mess with.