Mexico vs. Jamaica: Final score 0-0, Reggae Boyz earn shock draw at Azteca

The Hex was supposed to be a cakewalk for Mexico, and it may still be, but their opening match was an outright disaster. Jose "Chepo" Manuel de la Torre picked a curious team that was completely ineffective. It allowed Jamaica not just to stay in the match, but have the better chances, leaving El Tri somewhat fortunate to walk away with a 0-0 draw.

With the draw, Mexico and Jamaica join Panama and Costa Rica in second place after one matchday. Honduras lead the Hex on three points and the United States is bottom after getting beaten today.

Jamaica should have been ahead seven minutes. Jobi McAnuff hit the post, but the rebound came right back to him and he hit almost the entire net to shoot at. Unfortunately for the Reggae Boyz, McAnuff hit it the only place he couldn't shoot it -- right at the prone Jose de Jesus Corona. It was a terrible miss by McAnuff, who was otherwise excellent all match.

Mexico did generate some chances in the middle portion of the match, but they still struggled to play with pace or any sort of creativity. Chepo chose to play in a 4-4-2, which brought Oribe Peralta into the team. Worse, it put Giovani dos Santos on the wing, where he was predictable ineffective. To top it off, Maza Rodriguez got the nod in defense. It was a horrible match for Chepo, who seemingly sabotaged his team's chances to win, but shoddy performances by a handful of players didn't help El Tri either.

While Mexico did have a huge edge in shots, Jamaica had the better ones. They had McAnuff's two chances in the early going and then got Ryan Johnson a golden opportunity in the second half. Johnson was played in all alone on goal and had all the time in the world, but he somehow shot right at Corona to waste the opportunity.

Jamaica's inability to capitalize on their chances almost sent them to a loss because Mexico did get chances late, notably when Javier Hernandez got a free header, but El Tri couldn't convert. It was a shocking result, but a deserved one as Jamaica were rewarded for an excellent match against a sluggish and perplexing El Tri.