The warm-up friendly simulated World Cup conditions, including cooling breaks for the players, at the Rose Bowl stadium.By ReutersPublished On 31 May 202631 May 2026World Cup cohosts Mexico have savoured a confidence-building 1-0 friendly win over Australia in front of a mammoth crowd in the United States with the result leaving both sides’ coaches with hard choices before naming their squads for the tournament.A Johan Vasquez header from a set piece in the 28th minute on Saturday gave a much-changed Mexico the lead, which they held successfully despite a better second half from the Socceroos after a shaky start at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listMexico coach Javier Aguirre made nine changes from the starting 11 that beat Ghana 2-0 in a friendly in Puebla, Mexico, last week.All 48 participating nations must submit their 26-man World Cup squads to FIFA by Monday for a tournament that begins on June 11 and will be played in Mexico, the US and Canada.There was much to like about the performance of the fringe lineup, barring a howling mistake in defence that should have cost an equalising goal in added time before the main interval.A long ball forward put Mexico in disarray with midfielder Luis Chavez heading straight to Mohammed Toure on the edge of the area as goalkeeper Raul Rangel charged off his line.But the Socceroos striker volleyed wide with an empty goal at his mercy, drawing a collective gasp from the pro-Mexico crowd of 78,479.That was Australia’s only genuine chance in an opening half in which they were largely under siege.Chavez blazed over from long range in the 10th minute, and goalkeeper Mat Ryan had to make a fine save 15 minutes later when he tipped a close-range header from Alexis Vega over the bar. Advert …
