By: Joe Lami

SANTA CLARA, Calif.—

Before a full crowd of 67,175, the first ever sellout at the Levi’s Stadium, the Mexican National Team started their American International Friendly tour with a 0-0 draw against the Chilean National Team on Saturday night.

With a crowd that must be similar to the Azteca in Mexico City, Mexican supporters urged their team to victory, however it didn’t pan out, as there were several opportunities missed from Mexico. The Mexicans finished the night with six shots, however none of them were on target to force Chilean goalkeeper, Claudio Bravo to make a save. Mexico really pushed for the result late in the game, as they had several chances late, all of which missed just over the bar.

“It bothers us a little bit that we couldn’t get the result, however we are still happy. The players are still getting used to each other. We had several counters that were clear chances and were very dangerous. If we continue to play like this we are going to get positive results,” added Mexican coach, Miguel Herrera on his team’s performance.

Coming off of his very impressive performance in Brazil a few months ago in the World Cup, Mexican goaltending superstar Guillermo Ochoa made the start in goal. He had an outstanding performance Saturday night in which he faced five shots, with one on target, earning him the man of the match. The one save he did make was absolutely spectacular, reminding everyone in attendance of the performance he showed in Brazil.   Alexis Sanchez thought he had Ochoa beat, but the keeper made a jumping save pushing the ball just over the bar to keep the shutout in tact. “He (Ochoa) made a great save, everyday he is looking better,” commented Herrera on his keeper’s performance.

With the draw, Mexico still owns the advantage in the rivalry as they have an all-time record of 13-10-3 against Chile. Chilean coach Jorge Sampaoli said “The rivalry played nothing like a friendly, it played a lot more like a Coppa America match.” It showed, as there was two bookings in the match, something pretty uncommon in what is suppose to be a friendly. Each side picked them up late in the first half, as Mexico’s Paul Aguliar was booked in the 39th minute and Chile’s Eugenio Mena picked his up just five minutes later in the 44th.

Chile owned possession of the ball, as they had the advantage 60% to 40%, and their work rate was a lot higher as the passed the ball 313 times compared to Mexico’s 200 times. However, with the possession Chile was still unable to find the back of the net. “We spent a lot of time on the rivals side of the pitch, as they didn’t have too many second half chances,” added Sampoli.

Mexico continues their American tour later this week as they take Bolivia on Tuesday in Denver.

Follow Joe Lami on Twitter @joe_lami