MEXICO CITY — Brian Ching and Charlie Davies started at forward for the United States in Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier against Mexico.

Steve Cherundolo returned at right back after missing the first five qualifiers of the year because of a hip injury, and Carlos Bocanegra played left back, as he did in June’s Confederations Cup. Oguchi Onyewu and Jay DeMerit were the central defenders, in front of goalkeeper Tim Howard.
Ricardo Clark, Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan started in the midfield.
There were three changes from the starting lineup that lost 3-2 in the Confederations Cup final. Cherundolo took over from Jonathan Spector, Bradley replaced Benny Feilhaber and Ching started in place of Jozy Altidore. Bradley was suspended for the Confederations Cup final and Ching missed the tournament because of a leg injury.
Mexico had Guillermo Ochoa as goalkeeper, Efrain Juarez at right back, Jonny Magallon and Carlos Salcido at central defender, and Ricardo Osorio at left back.
Gerardo Torrado, Israel Castro, Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Andres Guardado were in midfield, with Guillermo Franco and Giovani dos Santos at forward.
Panama’s Roberto Moreno was the referee.
The United States entered the match 0-22-1 in Mexico, including 0-18-1 in Mexico City.
Heading into Wednesday, Costa Rica (4-1) led the final round in North and Central America and the Caribbean with 12 points, followed by the United States (3-1-1) with 10, Honduras (2-2-1) with seven, Mexico (2-3) with six, El Salvador (1-2-2) with five and Trinidad and Tobago (0-3-2) with two. The top three nations qualify, and the No. 4 team goes to a playoff against the No. 5 nation from South America.