Hermosa Beach Holds Viewing Party For U.S.-Mexico World Cup Qualifier

HERMOSA BEACH, CA - Viewing parties will be held in Hermosa Beach and four other locations in the Southland for Friday's telecasts of the U.S.-Mexico FIFA World Cup qualifier.

The game from MAPFRE Stadium in Columbus, Ohio will begin at 4:45 p.m. and be televised in English by cable's FS1 and in Spanish by Univision.

The viewing parties will be held at:

• Underground Pub & Grill, 1332 Hermosa Ave., Hermosa Beach;
• The Auld Dubliner, 2497 E Ave., Tustin;
• Q's Billiard Club, 11835 Wilshire Blvd., Brentwood;
• Shannon's On Pine, 209 Pine Ave., Long Beach; and
• Anna's Pizza, 1240 Lakes Drive, West Covina.

The parties are organized by various chapters of American Outlaws, a nationwide support group for the U.S. men's and women's national soccer teams.

The game begins the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup for both teams. Each team in the six-team group will play each other twice in a home-and-away mini-league that will conclude in October.

The top three finishers will qualify for the 2018 World Cup while the fourth-place team will play the fifth-place finisher from the Asian Football Confederation in a two-game, total-goals series to determine the 32nd and final entrant in the World Cup.

The U.S. is 24th in the rankings compiled by FIFA, soccer's international governing body, and Mexico 17th.

The U.S. has played Mexico in Columbus in each of the past four World Cup qualifying cycles, with the U.S. winning 2-0 each time.

The U.S. is 8-0-3 with 10 shutouts at MAPFRE Stadium, including a 7-0-2 record in World Cup qualifiers.

The U.S. trails the series, 18-33-14, but leads 13-6-5 since 2000.

The U.S. roster includes three players who played on the high school or club level in Los Angeles or Orange counties -- Hamburg SV forward Bobby Wood (Irvine Strikers), Club Tijuana defender Michael Orozco (Irvine Strikers) and D.C. United defender Steve Birnbaum (Northwood High).

Wood has started four of the U.S.' last five games. When the U.S. last played Mexico on Oct. 10, 2015 in the CONCACAF Cup at the Rose Bowl, Wood entered the game in the 98th minute and scored 10 minutes later, tying the score, in a game the U.S. lost, 3-2.

Birnbaum has played eight games for the national team this season, starting five. Since receiving a red card in the Copa America third-place game against Colombia on June 25 and serving a mandatory one-game suspension for the Sept. 2 World Cup qualifier against St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Orozco has played just once for the U.S., playing all 90 minutes in a 1-1 tie with New Zealand in an exhibition Oct. 11 in Washington.

The U.S. team consists of 10 players who play in Major League Soccer, seven in Germany, four in England, three in Mexico and one each in Liechtenstein and Norway.

The Mexican team, known as El Tri, consists of 11 players who play in Mexico; four each in Portugal and Spain, two each in Germany and Netherlands and one each in Italy and Major League Soccer.

Three U.S. players have club teammates on the Mexican roster -- Alan Gordon and Giovani dos Santos both play for Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy; Omar Gonzalez and Hirving Lozano play with the Mexican team Pachuca and Timmy Chandler and Marco Fabian play for Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany.

-- City News Service, photo via Shutterstock