Though still smarting, USA will soon have the chance to set the record straight and make amends for the recent 5-0 drubbing they suffered at the hands of Mexico. Two weeks from today, on 12 August, Bob Bradley's full-strength American side will travel to Mexico City with revenge in their hearts and history-making on their minds.

"Everyone reads into it [the 5-0 loss in New Jersey] in their own way, but we are the ones who know the work that's going in," said Bradley after a humbling defeat in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final, USA's largest losing scoreline for nearly 25 years. "But now we go to the Azteca and we start over on that day with a chance to do something the US hasn't done before."

When you finish second you have to stand there and see the other team get their medals, hold up the trophy, that's a feeling that you don't like.
USA coach Bob Bradley

Bradley is referring to the fact that no USA side has ever won at the famous 110,000-seat cathedral of Mexican football, teetering over 7000 feet up in the smoggy air that surrounds the Mexican capital. This time, though, the United States go into the contest with extra motivation and the same side that last month stunned Egypt and Spain to reach the final of the FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa. At the Azteca, Bradley, who took over from Bruce Arena in 2006, will not be relying on untested youngsters and MLS journeymen as he did at Giants Stadium.

Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, recent AC Milan signing Oguchi Onyewu, Jozy Altidore, young gun Charlie Davies and Tim Howard will all be back in the fold, and keen to write their own chapter in the compelling history of this trans-Rio Grande rivalry. The game will be the 58th meeting in 75 years between the two, a clash that has come to be known simply and concisely as the clasico. It will also be an opportunity for the American first-teamers to set right the school-yard beating Mexico handed out to their younger brothers in the Gold Cup final.

Even though the context will be totally different for the FIFA World Cup™ qualifier, Bradley and Co will still need to shake off the shock to a nation's pride. "When you finish second you have to stand there and see the other team get their medals, hold up the trophy, that's a feeling that you don't like," the coach said, fully aware that Mexico are struggling in fourth-place of six-team final hexagonal, having already lost to the US in Ohio in February. "When you have a game that feels like this at the end you don't forget it. It's something that we will talk about, be honest about, and hopefully we can use it in a way that we're better for it."

Sunday's resounding victory was the first by a Mexican side on US soil in nearly a full decade and may have snapped what many considered to be a US takeover as the top team in the CONCACAF zone. Brian Ching, the veteran American forward, will likely be the only man from the Gold Cup final team to make the US squad for the meeting at the Azteca. "You look at anybody, if you're from the United States, this loss will anger you. We have to channel that anger, use it and bring it with us to Mexico on 12 August," said the 31-year-old Hawaiian hit-man who captained the US at the regional finals.

You look at anybody, if you're from the United States, this loss will anger you. We have to channel that anger, use it and bring it with us to Mexico on August 12.
USA forward Brian Ching

One of the pleasant surprises in Bradley's experimental Gold Cup squad, of which there were more than a few, was midfield sensation Stuart Holden. Although he probably won't make the trip down to the Azteca, the Houston Dynamo midfielder, 23, did his future prospects in the national colours no harm at all. "We just have to put the loss behind us; it just wasn't our day" he said. "Maybe this will give them [Mexico] a little bit of confidence, sure, but it will be a different group come 12 August."

Mexico have only ever lost one qualifier at their Estadio Azteca, to Costa Rica, in 2001 in what has come to be known as the Aztecazo. The Americans, with the confidence of last month's heroics in South Africa still fresh and with a score to settle too, are poised on the brink of history.