Player Ratings: Mexico 2-0 Serbia

What a bizarre career arc. Given his shot with the national team just before his third decade due to extraneous circumstances, Talavera has taken full advantage. Make no mistake, he earned his clean sheet thanks to a handful of reflex saves.

Rodriguez took Rafael Marquez's starting position and captain's armband. Lost an aerial battle to Zigic once, but other than that looked composed.

Salcido tore it up. From his cross-cum-shot that opened the scoring, to incisive overlapping runs to bossing his flank (Krasic hardly saw the ball), Salcido dominated.

As with the rest of the backline, Moreno was solid and secure through most of the game, though did have to make some late clearances and blocks deep in the second half.

Less effective than his opposite fullback Salcido going forward, Juarez's contribution was best underlined by how many better chances Serbia created once he left the field.

In the first half in particular, Castro wouldn't let Serbia past, nipping in to steal the ball and restart the heavy pressure.

Despite featuring the shorter team, El Tri had the better of the chances from crosses, especially thanks to Guardado's service. It was when the winger came central that he was less effective, spurning some good shots.

Barrera's movement on the ball was a tad too direct, and he should have finished better when opportunities arose.

Somehow, Dos Santos manages to turn on the twinkle-toed magic for Mexico despite his dearth of club minutes. His distribution was vibrant and the movement from wing to wing unnerved the Serbian backline.

Following the blunder on the opening goal, Stojkovic zoned in and pulled off a series of fine stops to keep Serbia in the match.

Rajkovic's tracking of Hernandez on the opening goal was actually tight, though after that he had a few nervy moments.

The only Serbian defender to walk away with much credit, Ivanovic showed he has the stalwart qualities to build the backline around in the wake of Nemanja Vidic's retirement.

Abysmal. Ninkov let Salcido cross unopposed in the opening minutes for the first goal and a hurried sliding tackle missed to allow Guardado an open shot that should have put the game out of reach to close the second half.

An improved second half performance from Kacar carved out plenty more time on the ball for Serbia.

The No. 10 largely failed to pull the strings, often drifting off to the left to latch onto medium range passes.

The shaggy-haired winger has had a few disputes with club coach Antonio Conte about his form and positioning. He looked no freer or unencumbered for his national team.

Whenever Serbia did launch an attack, the starting move usually came from a deep pass by Kumanovic.

British show "Neighbours" once called Jovanovic among the best players in the world. It wasn't true then and it's certainly false now, as evidenced by an ineffective shift against Mexico.

For a man nearly 7 feet tall, Zigic did a good job of not being found on the field.