Cavan Sullivan -- just 17 years old -- becomes youngest USMNT player to score in 3-0 win vs. Mexico

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Cavan Sullivan became the youngest player to score a goal in U.S. men's national team history, fellow teenager Julian Hall added another goal and the Americans cruised to a 3-0 victory over Mexico on Saturday night in an international friendly that was the 80th match between the rivals.

At 17 years and five days old, Sullivan scored his stunning goal in the 62nd minute, intercepting a sloppy pass from Mexico goalkeeper José Rangel and then lofting a long shot over the goalkeeper’s head into the net for a 2-0 lead. The Philadelphia Union forward sprinted to the corner of the field where he was mobbed by teammates.

“This is what you dream of,” Sullivan said. “I've manifested this not just these past couple days, but my whole life. The celebration — every bit of it. This is a special moment for me and my family. Most importantly, for the team, a great win and an awesome environment to do it in.”

U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino shared a big hug with Sullivan when was subbed off a few minutes later.

“He's a fighter, he's a warrior,” Pochettino said. “It's difficult to find this type of player. Tremendous quality.”

Gio Reyna's crossing pass in the 28th minute deflected off Rangel's foot, leading to an easy goal for the 18-year-old Hall, who used his right foot to blast the ball into the net at close range for a 1-0 advantage. It was his third international goal in three games.

Hall — who also scored goals against Peru and Chile last week — plays for the New York Red Bulls.

Malik Tillman capped the scoring with a goal in the 84th minute, finding the top left corner of the net.

Mexico was down to 10 men for the final 20-plus minutes of the second half after Mateo Chávez was sent off with a red card in the 67th minute. Chávez committed a hard foul on Yunus Musah and then smacked Sebastian Berhalter in the face with both hands when the U.S. midfielder confronted him.

Mexico's fans were in the majority on Saturday, even though the match was played at State Farm Stadium in Arizona. El Tri controlled the action through the first 20 minutes but the U.S. slowly gained its footing.

It was the first meeting between the rivals since Mexico beat the U.S. 2-1 in the 2025 Gold Cup final.

Mexico's Rafael Márquez lost his first game as head coach in the heated rivalry. The 47-year-old was moved into the top job in September after serving under Javier Aguirre as assistant from August 2024 until Mexico’s loss to England in the round of 16 of this summer’s World Cup.

The former Barcelona star has plenty of history against the U.S. as a player from 1997 to 2018, famously getting a red card in 2002 after intentionally head butting U.S. player Cobi Jones.

Pochettino named midfielder Tyler Adams captain on Friday. It was Adams' 61st international appearance, which is tied with defender Antonee Robinson for the most on the current squad.

Diego Kochen had a clean sheet in his first international start in goal for the Americans. The 20-year-old currently plays professionally in the Danish league for Lyngby on loan from Barcelona. Kochen made an impressive save in the 57th minute, deflecting a hard shot from Roberto Alvarado over the net.

The Americans were coming off two impressive wins last week, beating Peru 4-1 and Chile 4-2. Mexico had a pair of 1-1 draws against Peru and Colombia.

The series between the two countries dates to 1934. Mexico has won 38 times, the U.S. has won 25 and the teams have fought to 17 draws.

Mexico faces Chile on Tuesday in Los Angeles.

U.S. hosts Canada on Tuesday in St. Paul, Minnesota.

See AP’s full soccer coverage here

Mexico forward Santiago Gimenez (11) and U.S. midfielder Sabastian Berhalter shove each other in the second half of an international friendly soccer match in Glendale, Ariz., Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

U.S. forward Cavan Suulivan celebrates after scoring against Mexico in the second half of an international friendly soccer match in Glendale, Ariz., Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

Mexico defensmane Israel Reyes (15) shields the ball from U.S. midfielder Gio Reyna in the first half during an international friendly soccer match in Glendale, Ariz., Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

Mexico midfielder Luis Romo (7) dribbles the ball past U.S. defenseman Auston Trusty in the first half of an international friendly soccer match in Glendale, Ariz., Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

U.S. forward Cavan Sullivan (8) heads th eball in front of Mexico defenseman Johan Vasquez in the first half during an international friendly soccer match in Glendale, Ariz., Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

Mexico defenseman Israel Reyes kicks the ball in front of U.S. midfielder Malik Tillman (17) in the first half during an international friendly soccer match in Glendale, Ariz., Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Polls opened Sunday morning in Bosnia for a general election in which most citizens of the multi-ethnic Balkan nation are focused on everyday problems, while some mainstream politicians are whipping up war-era tensions that have kept the country divided since its brutal 1992-95 conflict.

Around 3.4 million voters in Bosnia are choosing the three members of the country's multi-ethnic presidency, lawmakers for the national Parliament, and heads of institutions for the country's two entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska.

The complex network of institutions was created in a U.S.-brokered peace agreement that ended the war.

Taking center stage in the contest is a staunchly pro-Russian politician who, despite not appearing on the ballot, has dominated the campaign and inflamed divisions that have sparked fears of renewed instability.

Milorad Dodik, the separatist and nationalist former president of the Serb-majority Republika Srpska, has been banned from holding public office after being convicted of defying decisions by the international envoy overseeing the 1995 peace agreement.

Just back from a trip to Moscow where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dodik's party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, is likely to win the election in Republika Srpska.

At his party's final election rally Friday night in Banja Luka, Republika Srpska's administrative capital, Dodik told supporters that Bosnia “is dead."

"It is an impossible country. It doesn’t make any sense,” Dodik said at the rally, which was also attended by the Russian ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Igor Khalabukov.

Dragan Bursac, an analyst, said despite Dodik not appearing on the ballot for the first time in nearly 30 years, he “is still in command. He is everywhere.”

“He is all over the media, not only in the entity of Republika Srpska, but in all of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is obvious that these measures to ban him from political life are not working, and he is using them,” Bursac said.

While Bosnia has been peaceful in recent years, its politicians have kept alive the divisions between the country's Bosniaks, who are mainly Muslim, and its Serbs and Croats. Bosnian Serb leaders like Dodik have pushed for the separation of their entity from the rest of Bosnia, which has led to concerns among Western countries that tensions could once again spill over.

One of the poorest countries in Europe, Bosnia is still struggling to recover decades after the war that started in 1992 after Bosnia declared independence from the Serb-led former Yugoslavia and ethnic Serbs took up arms to carve out their own state and join Serbia.

The conflict killed more than 100,000 people and displaced millions.

Bosnia is formally seeking to join the European Union, but progress toward membership has been stalled despite EU efforts to encourage Bosnia's divided leaders to work together for reform.

Ahead of Election Day, Durak Miler, a resident of the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, said governing politicians “just poison people when they talk.”

“We should change the old faces,” he said. “They have been governing for 35 years ... I think whoever comes next will work better for retired people and the poor.”

The country's wartime wounds were recently revived by a public homage in Serbia and among Bosnian Serbs to the wartime army commander Ratko Mladic, who died in late August while serving a life sentence for genocide and other war crimes.

Bosnian Serbs view Mladic as a hero despite his conviction by a U.N. court over the massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995, and other atrocities.

Key Bosnian Serb officials attended the funeral service for Mladic in Belgrade that sparked harsh EU criticism and angered Bosniak politicians.

Authorities are for the first time using electronic identification of voters and scanning of ballots to prevent irregularities or organized voter manipulation, which have cast doubt on the fairness of previous elections.

Salko Bijavica, from the southern town of Mostar, said he is glad that “every vote will be counted,” and that the change will give “hope to people that elections will be fair.”

Most of Bosnia's 75 political parties running in the election are organized along ethnic lines in the country's Serb-controlled Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The two entities are bound together by the central presidency and Parliament.

The Bosniak nationalist Party of Democratic Action has focused its campaign on efforts to keep Bosnia united against Serb separatism. Bosnian Croats, too, largely support their ethnic parties, including the Bosnian branch of Croatia's ruling conservative Croatian Democratic Union.

Polls will close at 7 p.m. local time.

Many disillusioned citizens say politicians are using nationalism to avoid solving important problems such as poor living standards and an exodus of youth from the country.

Ivan Silic, from the southern town of Mostar, said: “I don’t see that anything is getting better, from the moment I started to vote.”

“We all know who lives well,” he said. "It is better for (politicians), and for the rest of us everything is the same.”

A man rides a bicycle beneath an election poster featuring Our Party (NS) candidates for the upcoming general elections in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

A boy rides a bicycle past an election poster featuring Red Lines (CL) candidates in the upcoming general elections in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

An election poster featuring Nermin Muzur, People and Justice Party (NiP) candidate, hangs from a pole ahead of the upcoming general elections in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

A man walks beneath an election poster featuring People and Justice Party (NiP) candidates for the upcoming general elections in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

A man walks beneath an election poster featuring Our Party (NS) candidates for the upcoming general elections in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)