PHOENIX -- United States defender Antonee Robinson said no one is going into Saturday's friendly against Mexico "thinking this is a friendly" and that he's told the younger players on the roster to expect an even higher level of feistiness than they saw at the end of Tuesday's 4-2 win over Chile.

Robinson captained the U.S. for the first time in the win over Chile, and is keen to get the USMNT back to winning ways against El Tri, which has won the last two games in the rivalry, including the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup final.

"I feel like ever since I first played against Mexico, it's always been the same," Robinson told reporters prior to Thursday's training session. "It doesn't matter whether it's a qualifier or a friendly, Nation's League, Gold Cup, it's always a fierce competition. You want to win. It feels really personal and you want to be the winner of that, I'd say a derby in that kind of sense.

"And that's what we're going to look to bring now. No one's walking into this thinking it's a friendly."

Robinson's sentiments were echoed by teammate Sergiño Dest, who was sent off in the 2023 Concacaf Nations League semifinal in which the USMNT triumphed 3-0.

"I feel like it's the real culture and the real passion of football," Dest said about matches against Mexico. "The rivalries between teams in general are always amazing to see. And this is one of them as well. Playing with America against Mexico is one of the best games here. And yeah, it's going to be a tough game. Sometimes there will be fights, sometimes there won't.

"But we play on home soil, so we got to show our passion as well to them and that we're a great team and they can be aggressive like that against us because we have a great brotherhood."

For many players on the U.S. team, this will be their first encounter against Mexico at senior level. Heading into the window, 13 players on the U.S. roster were uncapped, with 12 of them having at least stepped on the field against either Peru or Chile. A skirmish broke out at the end of the Chile game after Leandro Hernandez jabbed his toe into the midsection of prone U.S. keeper Brian Schwake.

Players from both teams came together on the field during the confrontation and U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino even stepped into the middle of it all in a bid to defuse the situation.

But Saturday's encounter, which is expected to draw a heavy pro-Mexico crowd, will see the intensity of international soccer for the U.S. -- and especially its younger players -- taken to another level.

"There was a glimpse of the fire that teams like that can bring at the end of the Chile game," Robinson said. "So we've been saying to the young boys that you're going to expect that and a lot more when we play against Mexico. And obviously the crowd can play a big factor. It's probably going to be a lot more Mexican fans that we'd expect to be there. So we know how much this game means to both teams and the boys getting to experience that and their first camps going to be interesting to see and I hope they all embrace it, enjoy it and ready to put the fight in."

Dest added: "Obviously, these are the toughest games and you will feel it, the crowd, the fans from both sides. The atmosphere is going to be amazing. And obviously sometimes it can be a little bit, for players that play this as one of the first big games, they can be nervous. It's normal. But the only thing I can help them with is just to stay calm and believe in all the abilities they trained for all these years and just show what you got because that's what we need."

At Thursday's training session, 27 of the 28 rostered players were full participants in the portion that was open to the media. U.S. goalkeeper Chris Brady, who was subbed off at halftime of the Chile game, was the only absentee. He was limited to gym work on the side.

The U.S. closes out the new extended September/October international window with a game against Canada on Oct. 6.