Mexico vs United States: 2-1

Being an American, I am proud of the Red, White, and Blue. The last result between Sam's Army and El Tri hurt me as much as the last time Barcelona played Real Madrid. We were crushed in the Gold Cup final 5-0 by our southern neighbors. The United States has surely had the edge over Mexico in the recent years but the thrashing USA recieved at home a couple weeks back has boosted the confidence of Mexican supporters and reignited the heritage of Mexican Americans that choose red, white, and green over red, white, and blue. That Gold Cup hammering was the first loss on home soil in around 10 years when it comes to CONCACAF matches of all sorts. That U.S. team that fell so hard to Mexico in the Gold Cup was considered a "B Team" because the "A Team" was on holiday after performing remarkably in the Confederations Cup, falling to Brazil 3-2 in the final and scalping the number 1 ranked team in the world at the time, Spain 2-0, in the semi final. Today the U.S. took on Mexico again in the infamous Estadio Azteca located in the heart of Mexico City and the "A Team" had returned. This rivalry heated up once more. The atmosphere itself was in a league of it's own. The stadium seats 105,000 and the altitude takes it's toll on any well tuned athlete. The entire stands were painted with green shirts. It was a critical game for El Tri, who going into this match were sitting 4/6 in the qualifying group, one spot away from direct qualification. Ever since Mexico had seen the reintroduction of Coach Aguirre, they have been rejuvenated from their early qualifying woes. Going into this World Cup Qualifier, the U.S. was 0-22-1 against Mexico at the Azteca. Let's take a look at what happened.

U.S.A. fell to their arch rivals 2-1 in a heart breaker this afternoon. It all started well for the not so welcomed guests in white. In about the 8th minute Charlie Davies was played through by a cutting ball from Landon Donovan. Davies, using his pace, separated himself and the Mexican defenders at his heels and curled the ball around an away from Mexican goalkeeper, Ochoa. From then on out the United States was abysmal. The Mexicans dominated the possession practically the entire match. Of course, U.S. supporters could argue about the heat in Mexico and that the Mexican National Team had trained in the altitude all week but excuses don't excuse scorelines. Mexico has to come play in the snow when they come up to see the U.S at times. Eleven minutes after the United States opening goal, the failure to close down the Mexican attack began to show when Israel Castro on the date of his 20th cap for his country rifled a shot from almost 30 yards that rang the cross bar before crossing over into the goal. The stadium erupted and if the United States' post goal poor play wasn't enough, this Mexico goal threw the momentum to El Tri. The red, white, and blue were lucky to escape the first half with a 1-1 scoreline to catch their breath. The U.S. team looked slow and just simply could not compete against the pace and craftiness of their opponents. Spurs' Dos Santos was instrumental and easily the Man of the Match for me. He was dangerous every time he received the ball. I've only seen him play lately in the last two matches against the U.S. but he once again is starting to look like a promising player. He would slither by United States defenders drawing fouls left and right. He was great. Even from an American's perspective, he was a stand out. The Mexican attack continued to pour on the U.S. whose game plan turned into almost 0% passing and 100% reckless clearances. It was hard for me to watch. Eventually the speed broke down the U.S. players and Mexico found their second goal in the 81st minute through substitute and Gold Cup hero, Miguel Sabah, who pounced on a lose ball in the area that sprung from a challenge on a Mexican player who made Landon Donovan look slow after dusting him on the flank.

Key players for Sam's Army were a major contributor to the downfall of the United States in Mexico this afternoon. Landon Donovan was invisible most of the time. Michael Bradley faded out the match quickly. Many fans believed the likes of young Altidore, who just completed a loan to Hull City this week, would start but Brian Ching got the nod (probably because he is in mid season with the Huston Dynamo). Altidore was eventually introduced into the match after Davies went down with cramps. I'm usually not one to bash officiating because I believe that the referees don't decide matches, players do. However, there are exceptions. Today, I didn't think the officiating crew did a fair job but they weren't to blame for the defeat clearly, but consistency seemed like a major issue. I'll stop myself there when it comes to that. Overall it was a plain bad performance by USA. It's a shame that it will seem as if more people in the United States will be celebrating the Mexican victory than mourning the U.S. loss. On the channel I watched the game on, it showed U.S. Military troops tuning into watch match all the way from Iraq in the wee hours of the night, sadly they were sporting Mexican flags and colors.

Viva el futbol y hala Madrid

Bobby