What were you expecting, revenge?

Mexico 2 USA 1

2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification, CONCACAF Fourth Round

Wednesday 12 August 2009 | Estadio Azteca | Mexico City, Mexico

After our B-side got soundly pounded and embarrassed 5-0 by our southern neighbor in the final of the Gold Cup last month in New Jersey, our Country's best today made the trip down to the Ninth Circle of World Cup Qualifying Hell – Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.

 

Elevation: 7,200 feet above Mean Sea Level.

Capacity: well over 100,000 (virtually all assured to be Mexican).

Noise Level: think AC-DC, The Who, and anybody else playing through a stack of Marshall amps the height of the Sears Tower.

Past record of USA national team in Mexico City: 0 wins – 18 losses – 1 draw.

Past record of USA national team anywhere in Mexico: 0 wins – 22 losses – 1 draw.

Like I said. Dante had this place pegged.

 

In a flash, Miguel Sabah scored a go-ahead (and game-winning) goal for Mexico in the 82^nd minute to break up a very tense affair that had been knotted 1-1 since the 19^th minute when Israel Castro Macias (don't you just love names like that?) scored on a 24-yard thunderbolt to even the score after Charlie Davies had shocked the expected piñata bash by putting the USA ahead 1-0 in only the 8^th minute after taking a pinpoint pass from Landon Donovan in midfield.

After a first half that, by my account, was fairly even and played at a high level of intensity for the most part, the game winner said everything you needed to know about what was happening on the pitch.

After the half, the US looked like a draw was what they were shooting for. Time and again they just were content to hoof it out of their defensive end. Mexico, with possession a pretty easy thing to control by now, was beginning to make it look like death was just around the corner for the US. By the time Carlos Vela came on in the 53^rd to replace the ageless Cuauhtémoc Blanco, I felt it was just a matter of time. In the 58^th minute, Tim Howard made a fine save on a short blaster by Dos Santos Ramirez Giovani (another beaut), and by the 60^th, Mexico was in complete control of this match. But in the 71^st, Stuart Holden who had just come into the game less than 15 minutes beforehand put a laser cross into the box that Charlie Davis just missed putting his noggin on while horizontal - a diving header into a wide-open goalmouth just wasn't in the cards.

You just knew that was America's chance to capture lightening in a bottle.

Instead, a bit of a pillow fight broke out a few minutes later.

 

It was somewhat obvious to even infants that might have been watching that the Americans were taking their sweet time at opportune moments. Like when Charlie Davies went to ground just at the top left of the box after a Mexico free kick was to be followed by a corner kick – Nery Castillo went over to try to "help" Davies up (by trying to pull him up by his head) - or he was pissed that he saw some not-so-artful time wasting going on?Benny Feilheiber came over with a feather pillow and the slumber party shenanigans were on.

After order was restored, Mexico just cranked up the pressure even higher and the Americans kept stalling, praying for a draw.

Then the difference in the attitude - and dare I say pride? – showed itself oh so clearly.

Efrain Juarez, a defender, had the ball on the right wing in USA territory (a YouTube post in HD), marked by Landon Donovan. He then made a charge with the ball and just flew past Donovan towards the end line where Jay DeMerit brought him down with a tackle fitting of the English leagues (he is the captain for Watford). Problem was, the ball, now dislodged from Juarez, fell to the waiting Miguel Sagah who without fear lifted it just under the crossbar into the upper net for the killer.

The USA then stopped stalling and had a couple of chances – Donovan with a corner kick in the 88^th (while being pelted with some pretty large containers while waiting to take the kick) and then Holden found himself in the box with the ball. But time ran out in the cauldron of deafening noise.

Whatever your feelings, whatever your level of patriotism, whatever your allegiances, whatever your opinion on whether or not this was World Class football, watching a big match in a big stadium under a big sun with a lot at stake (especially in this case for Mexico) is what loving football is all about.

I sure didn't pay any attention to any of the European international friendlies and World Cup Qualifiers – those matchups just didn't match up.

Postscript

What in the hell is going on with the television network executives in this country?

HELLO! EARTH TO NETWORKS!

I'm turning into Howard Beale over here for chrissakes…

Arguably this was THE match played on Planet Earth today. Yet, in the home country of one of the participants, the match could be viewed live only on Telemundo (in Spanish mind you) and mun2 (an English language cable outlet owned by Telemundo that I or nobody else I know can get).

Fox Soccer Channel – where were you?

ESPN – where were you?

NBC – where were you?

Now myself, like many football fans in the USA, don't care too much for the thin squad of English-language soccer announcers and commentators we have in this country. And, I rather enjoyed watching the match in Spanish – it certainly fit the setting.

And you wonder why the "growth of soccer" is a joke concept to many?

 

Comments

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