The US Men's National Team played out a 2-2 draw with arch rivals Mexico at Reliant Stadium in Houston on Wednesday night.

The 'Nats led twice through Oguchi Onyewu and Josmer Altidore, only to be caught each time by a Jonny Magillón strike.

The hosts had some success moving the ball upfield in the early going, but without carving out any real scoring opportunities. In the 17th minute, Carlos Bocanegra and Tim Howard suffered a nasty collision while tracking a Mexico cross into the area, but both players were able to carry on.

El Tri enjoyed the game's first two chances in the 22nd minute. PSV Eindhoven defender Carlos Salcido cut inside past Michael Bradley on the run to force Howard into a diving save, then seconds later, Antonio di Nigris tested the US keeper from the right.

Mexico continued gaining momentum, and young gun Carlos Vela could have done better than to fire over from the spot after Adolfo Bautista backheel attempt on goal was blocked straight into his wheelhouse.

Just when the visitors looked all set to score, Onyewu started and finished the play on a United States opener. The Maryland sent a long throw into the box, then climbed the ladder to bank a return lob cross from Landon Donovan in off the post.

The lead lasts only six minutes, however, as Magillón applied a leaping far post touch to Pavel Pardo's pinpoint free kick serve.

After Howard turned away a running Fernando Arce volley, the US regained the lead on Altidore's first international goal in the 40th minute. Drew Moor was given time to cross from deep on the right and the teen striker obliged the driven ball with a perfectly met header.

Clint Dempsey appeared to have the Americans up a pair two minutes later, but a mysterious offside call negated his fine individual effort. The Fulham star has taken down a long ball and created some space to fire home a turnaround shot from the top of the eighteen.

Two minutes out of intermission, Magillón pulled his side level with another close range conversion. The defender, who had never scored in a Mexico shirt before Wednesday, got to the end of a corner kick at the far post to level for a second time.

Moor and Altidore hooked up again in the 53rd minute, but an undercut challenge from Barcelona defender Rafa Marquez forced the youngster to steer this header wide.

After Moor hustled to block a shot in halting a dangerous Mexico attack near the hour, attempts on goal were few and far between. As the goals dried up, the already intense contest became littered with heavy challenges from both teams.

"We had some good moments in a tough game that was played at a high tempo," US coach Bob Bradley told reporters. "I feel like we still need to keep getting better, but as a team we played fairly well."

Scoring
USA - Oguchi Onyewu (Landon Donovan) 29'
MEX - Jonny Magillón (Pavel Pardo) 35'
USA - Josmer Altidore (Drew Moor) 40'
MEX - Jonny Magillón (Carlos Salcido) 47'

Line-ups
USA - Tim Howard; Drew Moor, Carlos Bocanegra, Oguchi Onyewu, Ramiro Corrales, Landon Donovan, Ricardo Clark (Maurice Edu 79'), Michael Bradley (Benny Feilhaber 63'), Bobby Convey (Eddie Lewis 70'), Jozy Altidore, Clint Dempsey (Freddy Adu 63')

MEX - Guillermo Ochoa; Jonny Magallón, Carlos Salcido (Fausto Pinto 59'), Rafael Marquez), Israel Castro, Gerado Torrado, Fernando Arce (Cesar Villaluz 90+), Pavel Pardo, Carlos Vela (Giovanni dos Santos 71'), Antonio de Nigris (Juan Carlos Cacho 67'), Adolfo Bautista (Zinha 71')