The match in Columbus, Ohio, is one of three which kick off the CONCACAF qualifying competition's final stage, a six-team mini-league from which the top three sides will qualify for South Africa 2010.
The fourth-placed side will get another bite of the cherry when they play off against the fifth team from South America.
Dwight Yorke, 37, will lead Trinidad & Tobago in El Salvador, where they will face a hostile reception, and Benfica striker David Suazo will spearhead Honduras's attack on the artificial pitch at Costa Rica's Saprissa stadium.
Eriksson's Mexico side scraped into the final stage on goal difference from Jamaica and the statistics are stacked against them.
Several of their forwards -- including Giovani dos Santos, Omar Bravo and Nery Castillo -- are short of match practice after struggling at club level in Europe while Arsenal's Carlos Vela is suspended.
The Mexican media are already calling for Eriksson's head barely six months after he replaced Hugo Sanchez, who himself lasted only 16 months in the hot seat.
"We are going to prove on the field that we are better," striker Carlos Ochoa told Mexican reporters in Columbus.
"This U.S. dominance has to end, we have to support Eriksson with a good result and by playing a good game."
"You will see a team with good discipline... and attitude, because we know that football-wise, we are good enough."
