The US has dominated Mexico in soccer, winning the last two matches by identical 2-0 scores. In the latest round of this international rivalry, the Americans blanked the Mexicans with one set-piece goal off a corner and the other, a deflection off of an official that took a decided American bias and landed to the foot of striker Landon Donovan who sidestepped Mexican goalkeeper, Oswaldo Sanchez, and netted the clincher in the 1st minute of stoppage-time. The Mexican frustration was demonstrated after the game-winner as Sanchez tried to foot swipe Eddie Johnson running to celebrate with Donovan. Moments later the whistle was blown, the Mexican team walked from the field without shaking hands, and 50,000 of the near 65,000 fans in Glendale, Arizona were left to retreat to their homes, unhappy.
Wait, did I say 50,000 of the 65,000 fans were supporting Mexico? Surprised? Not really. As the rivalry grows between the American and Mexican soccer worlds, American fans certainly haven’t. While a few thousand fans were there in red, white and blue to offset the hue of los Tricolores, they were heavily outnumbered. Essentially it was a home game outside of Mexico City’s Azteca stadium. Mexican fans flocked from all over the United States (Mexico and Canada) to see a game, which to Mexicans, means so much more than just futbol. Beating the United States would give Mexican-Americans and immigrants intense pride (pages could be written about any kind of Mexican victory at the expense of Americans) as well as lift the goat that has cursed the Mexicans playing on US soil this century. [US 7-0-1 vs Mexico at home since 2000]
With the Mexican players in-season (in Mexican leagues and in Europe) and the American players’ seasons ending in late fall, this victory seems even odder. With a huge pro-Mexican crowd with their players in mid-season form, the Mexicans coming up short was sadly, not wholly unexpected. Simply put, they haven’t scored in almost 800 minutes on American soil. That is not a strong way to pave the groundwork for victory, lest to say, that they should not expect to win without scoring. However, they outplayed the Americans for large stretches of the game, and had numerous scoring opportunities that were thwarted by a mix of good (but not great) defensive stops and off-sides flags. They had chances to score but simply didn’t.
Watching the Mexican team last night, I thought of talented young baseball players trying so hard to hit the baseball they inevitably would fail to hit it. It seemed that with all the intensity of their play, collectively, they were trying too hard to score. Sometimes some finesse in sports outranks pure intensity and the Mexican determination outdid themselves. The Mexican team played well, and the Americans scored all the goals. It seems that the Mexican team has continually failed to realize that the American strategy is based on counterattacking. The Mexican players, coaches and media can go ahead and blame chance or luck, but without a changeup in game plan, the Mexicans will continue to play into American hands, err feet.
9 years ago
1 comment:
Just a disclaimer my thoughts about the US game may be bias because I like Mexico and I expect a lot from the US . First: The US is a very lucky team against Mexico . The second goal was complete luck and had the ref jumped or moved it would have never happened. It seemed to me that Mexico dominated the entire second half. They played harder and created way more opportunities to score. The US did not seem to adjust well when Mexico went on an all out attack. I like the Mexican team and the way the coach has them playing. They have great footwork.
For the US , I think their defense was awesome especially in the air. Corner kicks were completely ineffective for Mexico which is a good thing because they had a million. Defense and goalie I think are the US strong points. There midfield plays too defensive. Always working for the 1-0 score and it’s not just because we were up. They were defensive the whole first half. The strikers are hit and miss. Sometimes they look awesome and sometimes they look like idiots. I didn’t like when Eddie Johnson pushed that Mexican guy after the off sides call. He needs to be more aware. We need a coach that is fiery. A soccer coach needs to get his players up for the game. We should be playing for 4-0 or even 4-2 wins every game.
A couple of random thoughts: I liked Bruce Areana as a commentator. I thought he had a very level headed perspective on the game. I hate Wynalda. I didn’t hate him as a player but I hate him as a commentator. He is more like a cheerleader. He should really listen to the European commentators who are much better about picking a choosing spots to comment on the games. He talks way too much. The Portugal Brazil game was awesome the night before. I am sure you got to see it because it was at the Emriates. That was fantastic football. Brazil is stacked with tallent. The Spain England game sucked. I expected more from both teams, but I did kind of enjoy how miserable the English fans looked.
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