Match Summary

With the threadbare Everton squad further reduced through the loss of Yobo and Gravesen to injury, David Moyes put together a weakened team from the rest of the roster for the second and final game of the Second Copa de Tejas tournament in the magnificent Reliant Stadium, on the beltway of hot and humid Houston, Texas.

Marcus Bent: His first goal in Everton colours wasn't enough to save the tournament for the Blues

Although a bigger crowd was expected for the better supported Club America, only the lower tier of the multi-level monster stadium was opened and a relatively small but reasonably lively crowd spread itself around, with the yellow shirts of the Mexican club out-numbering the dedicated Blues who had journeyed far and wide to be there.

And the Mexicans had a lot more to cheer about, in addition to the rather lame Mexican Wave they got washing around the ground.  Everton, after cleaning the floor with Pachuca on Thursday, turned in a markedly less impressive display, outplayed in almost every area of the field by the yellow peril from south of the Rio Grande.

Despite the one-sided nature of the game, it could have been very different if Everton had converted some gilt-edged chances in the first half. Marcus Bent was the first guilty party, clipping an early effort over the bar, although, to be fair, Watson's cross the finish a fine move was played slightly behind the Blues' new signing.

A similarly impressive move not long afterwards involving McFadden and Bent culminated in a square pass to Naysmith who miscued embarrassingly right in front of goal from eight yards out.

Club America, meanwhile, were full of slick passing but lacked penetration in the early stages until Torres latched onto a loose ball to side-foot past Wright and give the Mexicans the lead. It was an error by Peter Clarke that sent the ball spinning across the area and while Stubbs was slow to react, Torres made no mistake.

At the other end, a good move ended with another cross by Watson but Kilbane's touch was too soft and Saja saved easily. The Irishman had another chance 7 minutes later after wonderful skill by McFadden but his far-post header under pressure from a defender was again tame.

6 minutes before the interval it was Bent's turn to miss from close range, side footing a McFadden centre wide with an awkward right-footed effort when it would have been easier to score with his left. 1-0 at half time.

Whether it was America's greater familiarity with the heat or Everton's fatigue from their exertions against Pachuca (the two Mexican sides didn't play each other for reasons best known to the organisers), but they were far superior in the second period. Pardo extended their lead when he surged through the Blues' defence before firing past Wright.

On 66 minutes Bent glanced a header narrowly over the bar from McFadden's in-swinging corner but the former Ipswich and Leicester man was more fortunate with two minutes to go when he nodded Chadwick's inch-perfect cross back across goal and into the bottom corner to cut America's lead in half.

Instead of an Everton equaliser, however, it was the Mexican side who restored their two-goal advantage with the last kick of the game when the Blues were caught out badly on the break and Wright, stranded in front of two attackers, could do nothing to prevent Navia from tapping in from close range.

While his side did lose comprehensively, David Moyes could take some positives from the game, most notably the number of clear cut chances Everton created and the performances of James McFadden and Leon Osman who were head and shoulders above their team-mates.