USMNT v. MEXICO

Same lineup as before except that I'd rather see somebody other than Pause.

2-2.

5-4 on penalties to los gringos. Si se pueden.

 

This is going to be a tough one, but I think the boys can pull it out and still walk away with a now expected 2-0 win. One around half and one late. Mexico is not that good.

 

Somehow the battle of the "B" teams isn't quite the event as the showdown at Azteca will be in a few weeks. To top it off the famalia and I are in Central Oregon w/out the soothing play-by-play tones of Max Bretos :shock: and FSC.

The boys will not want to be the group that screws up the streak so a hard fought 2-1 win is in order.

 

The lineups as posted on Ives site.

PRE-GAME- Here is the USA lineup:

-------------Ching-----------ARnaud----------------

Rogers--------------------------------------Holden

----------Beckerman---------Pause-----------------

Pearce-----Marshall------Goodson---------Heaps

---------------------Perkins-------------------------

USA bench:

Jon Busch, Brad Evans, Kenny Cooper, Santino Quaranta, Colin Clark, Sam Cronin, Michael Parkhurst

Here is Mexico's lineup:

-------------Miguel-Sabah-------Gio Dos Santos--------------

Alberto Medina----------------------------------Efrain Juarez

-----------Gerardo Torrado-------Jose Castro-----------------

Fausto Pinto--------------------------------------Israel Castro

-------------JC Valenzuela-----------Jonny Magallon-----------

--------------------------Guillermo-Ochoa-----------------------

BENCH- Jose Corona, Ismael Rodriguez, Guillermo Franco, Carlos Vela, Pablo Barrera, Carlos Esquivel, Luis Miguel Noriega

 

Well this blows...

Breathe...real game on August 12.

 

We just did not have any speed. Ching is no way a speedster like Davies, and Arnaud has had a rocky tournament in my opinion.

Vela and Dos Santos tore us apart with their speed. Just an ugly game all around.

I just hope the REAL USMNT rolls in to Azteca and wipes the smile from the Mexicans faces. That'll make me feel better about today.

 

oh the agony

 

When all else fails....... blame the ref for no reason. It helps to calm my nerves to blame him even if he actually called a solid game......

 

If I'm on the real USMNT, I've got to be looking at that game and thinking someone just beat up my kid brother. It's some real motivation to wipe the floor with them on August 12th in their house.

"Oh, look Mr. Mexico, none of those boys you beat last month are even on the field today. Oh, what, half your starters played in that game? Watch, this is how we did it against Spain."

"Yeah, a team with half your starters beat a team with only a few guys who'll even make the bench in 2010 and broke the 9 year unbeaten run. That hurt. But we're going to beat a 49 year unbeaten run, and do it against your best team. I bet that hurts much, much more."

 

That was U-G-L-Y, but only so ugly. It felt like a preseason match. 17 days until the sequel...

 

Thank you AndyP. that is my favorite post of the millenium.

And to Mr. Sullivan who said that Aquirre has now given all of Mexico something to be proud of. Oh if only the US had a coach who kicked players from the opposition during a match, I would be so proud. Please please please get him off the airwaves.

 

As pretty much the whole cast pointed out on ESPN's pre-match build up, there is only one name that has earned the immediate recognition of 1st Team inclusion, STUART HOLDEN.

 

Mexico can get excited about this if they want but I don't really care. This was our C team. If it were our A team, I'd be worried. If this were THE A team, we'd have driven to the match in a black and red van, BA would've beat up their whole team and Hannibal would have loved it when a plan comes together.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

I did not like what happened in the back. I was actually confused a couple of times. How did some of those breakaways happen? I know that this is basically the MLS team, but the defense is the defense. We rarely give up opportunities like those, but 4 of them (the PK was not a PK, but ref did not give Dos Snatos the PK he deserved). I think the key thing I saw was that they just gave up.

 

Heh.

 

"Rope-a-Dope"

Anyone?

 

Very interesting to read this. I was at the game and didn't have the benefit of professional analysis, but my instinct at halftime was that we were on the back foot and it was just a matter of time before we gave up goals. I thought their midfield completely dominated after the first 10 min or so. We were just booting long balls and couldn't move the ball on the ground through midfield, while they were carving out quality chances.

Anyway, it was my first international match and I thoroughly enjoyed myself despite the loss...

...and despite fearing for my life amid the crush of people entering the stadium
...and despite getting beer thrown on me after the 3rd and 4th goals
...and despite the abominable new transportation schedule to the Meadowlands
...and despite the a-hole security guard who wouldn't let me to my seat for the national anthems because apparently "it's disrespectful to walk in during the anthems"

Despite all that, it's pretty damn fun to attend a big international. Also, I don't know how the crowd played on TV, but I would say it was at least 75%-25% in favor of Mexico. Amazing atmosphere, but it was essentially a home match for them.

 

I dreamed this last night, so I thought I'd write it up and post it.

It was August 12th, 2009 in hot and humid Mexico City, Mexico. The site was Estadio Azteca, site of the key world cup qualifier between Mexico and the United States. As the teams came out for warm-ups, the mood of the respective sides could not have been more different. El Tri, the Mexican national team was in high spirits, joking and having stuff, still euphoric after their demolishing of the US team in the Gold Cup final the previous month. The Americans on the other hand were, well intense was the best way to describe them. There was no laughter or idle chatter; their focus was absolute. At one point, team captain Carlos Bocanegra walked over the Sam’s Army USMNT supporters and called down one of their leaders for a conversation. They seemed to argue for a minute and then the fan nodded in agreement and returned to his seat. Throughout it all, the masses of green-clad Mexican supporters continued their steady stream of songs, and chants.

The teams came back out for the final line-ups and national anthems. The entire city could hear the over one hundred thousand singing the Mexican anthem in unison. The couple thousand members of Sam’s Army in attendance sang with gusto, but could do little to be heard over the whistles from the Mexican fans.

The Americans kicked off and began the game. Immediately you could tell something was different. The Yanks were known for playing a high pressure game, but their pressure and energy was uncanny. The Mexicans were having trouble linking three passes together and were forced to resort to long balls that were inevitably won by the Americans. On attack, the yanks were putting on a clinic. The Mexicans were helpless against the raw speed of Davies and the power and guile of Altidore. On the flanks, Donovan’s pace and Dempsey’s artistry were ripping the Mexicans to shreds. In the center of the park, the creativity of Feilhaber and the determined grit of Bradley not only owned that piece of real estate but were initiating the devastating American attacks.

Before long, the Americans were up 1-0 on a superb Davies strike. There was no celebrating among the American players. Davies calmly ran up, grabbed the ball, and placed it in the center circle. The American team positioned themselves and invited the stunned Mexicans to start up play again. What was even more amazing was that Sam’s Army, who you could expect to be going nuts right now over a goal, were quiet spectators – a calm island of red in a sea of angry green. They looked on intensely, but it was if they were no longer fans, but witnesses.

On any other day, in any other game, Ochoa’s performance in the Mexican goal in the first half would have gone down as one of the greatest of all time. He made 18 saves, many of them amazing examples of his athleticism and reflexes. It didn’t matter. Every shot made by the Americans was on target and they peppered Ochoa’s goal incessantly. He made 18 saves, but the 22 shots meant that the USA went into the locker rooms at half-time with a stunning 4-0 lead. The Mexican team was booed off the pitch at the break.

Throughout it all, the Americans didn’t interact with the Mexican players, not during the dirty fouls, which lead to four yellow cards, not during the attempts by the frustrated Mexicans to provoke a personal reaction from the yanks. The Americans took it all, without even looking at their opponents and just walked away. But after every goal, there was no celebration, they set the ball back up for play and gestured for the Mexicans to continue.

The Americans came out after half-time early and just calmly took their places on the field, performing a few stretches in place, while waiting for the Mexicans to rejoin the game. There were surprisingly no jeers by the Mexican fans as they did this; they were just greeted by silence.

The Mexicans came out, putting on a good show of determination and receiving half-hearted applause from their fans. They immediately made three changes to their roster, replacing some of their veterans with up and coming attacking talent. It didn’t matter. The American juggernaut continued, not giving the green-clad players any time on the ball and using a combination of great movement, one touch passing, and creativity to carve through the Mexican defense. At the 66 minute mark, the Yanks were up 6-0.

At that point, we see the first movement on the US bench. Both Brian Ching and Heath Pearce begin warming up. A few minutes later, Altidore is subbed off for Ching and Bocanegra for Pearce. As Bocanegra approaches the sideline, he takes off the captain’s armband and places it, with much ceremony, around the arm of Ching. The American players then applaud; there is a sense of a salute behind the gesture and Sam’s Army picks up the feeling and joins them in an applause of salute. It was clear then, what was happening. Ching was the captain during the US team’s worst loss to Mexico; he would now be the US captain at the closing whistle of their greatest victory over their rivals.

The game continued, with the dejected and downtrodden Mexicans just trying to stop the bleeding. There would only be one more goal, a cross by Pearce met strongly by Ching to beat Ochoa for the seventh time. Ching did allow himself a brief fist pump of joy after the goal.

As the final whistle blew, the now half empty stadium was mostly silent. The Mexican fans weren’t even booing their home team, too stunned by the American performance. Sam’s Army just gave their team a dignified standing ovation.

At the after-game press conference, Coach Bradley, Bocanegra, and Donovan sat stone-faced at the press table. As the questions from the press began, Bocanegra held up his hand for silence and the read a prepared statement:

“Today wasn’t about the rivalry; it wasn’t about proving who was the best team in CONCACAF. It wasn’t even about revenge. Today was about sending a message. If you run up the score against the US Reserve team, you WILL regret it.”

At that, all three quietly rose and left the press-room, leaving the sports reporters speechless. Next to the empty table, the Mexican coach and players were left trying to explain the worst home defeat in their history and how their already tenuous world cup qualification chances had been shattered.