The US soccer team has just beaten Mexico 2-0. In the last few minutes of the game, a Mexican player accidently bounced the ball off the referee right to an American. He passed it off to the guy who scored the second goal. You just know the Mexicans are pissed about it even though the US would still have won 1-0 without it.
Eh, that game probably should have been 2-1 Mexico at that point if they had displayed any real finishing ability. The U.S. played better for large portions of that game, but Mexico had MORE than enough opportunities late in the second half.
Was a pretty fun game, though.
I thought this was going to be about the Texas War of Independence and the Mexican-American War.
Why the heck did I put this in IMHO? If a mod would move it to the proper forum, I’d be grateful.
Well, the first goal was definitely against the run of play. Mexico was threatening more than the USA. The second was an assist by the referee. The poor Mexicans just cannot buy a goal on US soil anymore. And this was pretty much a home game for Mexico, just without the altitude and smog. I think USA are in Mexico’s heads at this point. Some very nice passing but horrid finishing by el Tri.
On the USA side, I like Jonathan Bornstein for the future. Kid has wheels. He has some things he needs to clean up, but overall I see big things for him. Jimmy Conrad was definitely man of the match, and Carlos Bocanegra also looked good in the center, where we hardly ever get to see him. Chris Albright is crap at right back, although he made some decent runs going forward. I wasn’t wild about the play of either Mastroeni or Clark in the middle. Too many unforced turnovers. Also was generally displeased with Rolfe and Donovan up top. Eric Wynalda was chiding Rolfe’s play, but Landon’s was just as poor. He’s just not a pure forward, and he and Rolfe were never in synch. Dempsey and Convey on the wings were hit and miss. I think Convey benefited more from Bornstein than Albright and Dempsey did together.
Between the posts Timmy looked good once he settled down a bit, after the first five or ten minutes he was always wear he needed to be.
Would have liked to see Mapp sub in for Dempsey, he had a nice late spark against Denmark. Also would have preferred to see Donovan as an attacking mid and someone else up top with Rolfe, maybe Twellman or Ching later when he’s back from injury.
Net, I am getting used to and really enjoy these 2-0 scorelines.
One last thing, I really don’t like this Canadian ref. He gave two early yellows, one to each side, unnecessarily. And he probably should have been able to get out of the way of that ball that got LD his goal.
I am really not a big fan of Eddie Johnson’s game… I sort of wish they had brought in Twellman late instead, so we could see him in this sort of game. I’ve seen enough of Taylor with the Revs to know that, whatever else may be happening, he’s got that goal-scorer’s knack for just making things happen, at least at the MLS level… and that is something that this team lacks a lot of the time, ref-aided assists aside.
Am I the only one on the boards who records sporting events to watch later…? 
Sorry about that. I was excited and didn’t think about it.
I appreciate your apology. Accepted. Guess you’ve freed me to pursue other endeavors, though I WILL listen to it (and of course, watch the goals!).
Great news, given all the team has failed to become.
jean
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society.
Mexico was long-balling a lot and the US players were defending nicely and simply.
Hugo Sanchez had been whoring himseld for years to get the job and he did it badly. He had no Plan B.
Is US 2 Mexico 0 really a spoiler? 
Didn’t see the game, but I read about the Mexican players refusing to acknowledge the Americans after the game, and read their comments (in English, but still) on the game, which basically amounted to “Whenever the U.S. wins a game, it’s only because a butterfly is flapping its wings really hard in China”. 6+ years in, Mexico hasn’t beaten the US yet in this decade. There’s a reason for that, and it ain’t serendipity.
Apparently, the Mexicans routinely diss the American team after losing. So not only do they lose to us regularly, but they’re regularly pissy about it too.
Yeah, but this time the Mexican goalie attacked one of our players (Eddie Johnson) after Donovan scored; fortunately he didn’t do a very good job. Damn, the Mexico team make its easy to root against them.
Good link. I remember hearing the commentators talking about it but I didn’t get a good look.
They haven’t beaten the US in the US, they’ve won in Mexico.
In fairness though, this US team really isn’t that good. Further, Mexico played well in the last WC going out after a tough game to Argentina (and a world class goal). Part of the problem with both the US and Mexico is that they don’t play as many serious competitive games as their European counterparts (or even their S.American counterparts) and I think that hurts them both in the long-run.
As for the Mexican players being petulent wankers, well that’s been the case for quite some time and seems to go with the territory.
When? See article.
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Absolutely true. Certainly not #5 in the world, as many Americans knew before the WC started and we all know now.
Also agreed. I was really pulling for the Mexicans that day. I don’t think any team in the world would’ve beaten Argentina that day, including Germany (who I do believe earned their penalty shootout win in the next round), France and Italy.
Forgot to address this. Very true. What can you do, though? Australia and Japan aren’t likely to face resistance strong enough to prepare them for 2010, either. (Man, I can’t believe it’s only been half a year–it feels like I’ve been waiting three years already! Oh, to live in UEFAland…)
Yeah, US Soccer is making strides and Mexico have always had the talent, but CONCACAF is never going to provide the challenge they need. IMO the best we can do is get American clubs involved in serious South American competition in the short term, and try to develop a world-class domestic competition in the long term.
I suppose. They grow petulant wankers at home and import the superstitious oddballs to manage them.