The All Whites showed plenty of fortitude in defeat, but the gap between them and their opponents, who as the world No 15 are ranked 65 places higher, was evident at the Pasadena Rose Bowl.
In front of an intimidating sold-out crowd of 90526 -- quite possibly the biggest a New Zealand team has ever played before -- New Zealand fielded a team missing two of their most experienced players in influential skipper Ryan Nelsen (injury) and fellow-defender Ivan Vicelich (suspension).
There was only two training sessions after arrival in Los Angeles and the time constraints meant Herbert could not work on set pieces on the pitch, having to make do with a session in front of the whiteboard.
But he had no complaints, saying the All Whites, who had not played since they booked their tickets to South Africa by completing a 1-0 aggregate win over Bahrain last November, had to take advantage of the Fifa window.
"It was an honour for us to get a game like this," he said.
"It's time together. If we hadn't taken this window it would have been seven or eight months of not getting the side together, which for me would not have been ideal."
Herbert was happy with the performance of a new-look All White defence and had plenty of praise for 19-year-old Tommy Smith, to whom he gave a first cap.
He said the former England age group international, who is on a loan spell with English League One (third division) club Brentford, had passed the acid test of facing a highly-ranked side in front of a huge crowd with flying colours.
He was also pleased with the performance of the other new boy, Auckland City midfielder Chad Coombes, a late addition to the squad because of injury.
It was a tough challenge stepping up from domestic football, but Herbert believed Coombes did enough to remain in contention to be in the 23 to go to the World Cup.
Mexico, whose goals came from substitutes Javier Hernandez and Carlos Vela, dominated possession and territory for large parts of the match.
The pair struck during a decisive 15-minute spell early in the second half when the Mexicans upped the tempo, before appearing to take their foot off the pedal.
Opportunities were few and far between for the All Whites, although they did create one opening just minutes after the opening whistle, when a Leo Bertos cross was headed wide.
"It was a great chance and that would have been a fantastic start for us," Herbert said.
"We had a couple of others, not a lot, but we were not expecting to get a lot tonight."
The All Whites' next match is against Australia in Melbourne on May 24. They have two more friendlies, against Serbia and Slovenia in Europe, before they open their cup campaign against Slovakia in Rustenburg on June 15.
Herbert's focus now switches to his club coaching duties and Wellington's A-League playoff against Newcastle at Westpac Stadium on Sunday.
He and the four Phoenix players in the All White squad -- Tim Brown, Leo Bertos, Tony Lochhead and Ben Sigmund -- arrive back in Wellington on Saturday morning.
Herbert said it would be a case of wait-and-see as to how the quartet came through the amount of travel they would have done since Monday.
The Phoenix have also had skipper Andrew Durante and Jon McKain on Australian duty, although neither got off the bench in the Socceroos' 1-0 win over Indonesia in an Asian Cup qualifier in Brisbane on Wednesday night.
"We've got depth at the club if there's a problem," Herbert said.
"We're all going to gather at the stadium on Saturday afternoon and we'll just see how everyone is."
