US Glitters, But Is Not Gold
Posted on August 16, 2012 1:58 am
Well, Landon Donovan did say it was easy to win in Mexico.
So, interesting week in CONCACAF. Mexico is now pretty much the world leader in youth soccer, which is bad enough – but the last thing the US needed was Mexico winning the Olympics. Mexico was dangerous enough, but I liked them better when they didn’t believe they could win an important tournament. Self-confident Mexico makes me a sad fan.
And the US, so recently an afterthought after ten years of dominating the rivalry – well, out of pretty much nowhere they win in the toughest road gig west of anywhere. Turns out the US women’s team aren’t the only ones with hope. (I should be shot.)
Before the game, Keller and Lalas made a great point – why DID Mexico give the US this game? They couldn’t have known the US was going to be greeting the Olympic gold medalists – that was just a fortunate coincidence. The US wasn’t supposed to be getting anything out of this except cash – and, seeing as it wasn’t a sellout, not as much as they had hoped. And in theory the US could have gotten its second-string some incomparable experience. There’s nowhere on earth that can replicate the Azteca atmosphere, since the LA Coliseum is at sea level. [Corrected a misleading term - plenty of stadiums are high, man, but only Azteca combines heat, smog, and number of raging fans on top.]
I’m sorry – apart from that insight, Keller and Lalas were flailing. Greatest rivalry in the hemisphere? To say Mexico-US is better than Brazil-Argentina is pretty much insane. You don’t really need to oversell this rivalry, let alone by insulting our intelligence.
And all this “Gap? What gap?” nonsense is fanboyism that would be laughed off these forums. Alexi and Kasey have earned the right to say “we” when it comes to the USMNT, but that still doesn’t make knee-jerk rah-rah into proper analysis. ”We’re behind Mexico” is a perfectly valid thing to admit, what with all those nasty facts, and Taylor Twellman shouldn’t have been the only one to say so.
I didn’t even know what color the Azteca’s seats were before this – turns out they’re red. And oh, look, the Club America logo. If Mexico has to lose to the US, this was the game to do it. A mere blot in the Olympic afterglow, in a game that meant nothing to the home team, with the US wearing stupid shirts that they’ll have to see on video clips for all time. Hell, it wasn’t even a real game, “just” a “friendly.” Had this happened three years ago, it would have probably come close to costing Mexico its first World Cup berth since 1990. This week? Shiny gold medals, five rings. There isn’t much that overcomes winning in the other guy’s citadel, but the Olympics are on that list.
Which I suppose is marketing for you – I would have nodded at a U-23 World Cup in, but for some reason adding the Olympic prestige makes it a significant trophy, in the way that the 1999 Confederations Cup really doesn’t measure up to. Yes, the Olympics are largely a steroid-fueled literal and figurative orgy – no wonder the US was disappointed to miss it – that does not count in the larger FIFA picture. There’s still a cachet to “Olympic gold medalist” that no mere youth tournament can approach. They don’t just hand those things to, I dunno, Kim Kardashian’s stepdad or something.
Also…bad game. Especially from Mexico, obviously, but the US looked like a team that – well, had won exactly no times in Azteca before this. Because this wasn’t Mex in the Hex, we saw players who…you hate to say holding back, but, this is the first time, probably ever, that the Mexican team would have been tempted to worry about club form, not getting injured and screwing up their season, and so forth. Chepo isn’t going to make random substitutions at halftime when it matters, either. And if we care to take on Mexico in real games with none of Bradley, Donovan or Dempsey on the field, I’m sure they’d be delighted. Or if we’re tempted to give Orozco Fiscal a starting gig based on this game, Mexico will soon have a reason to be ecstatic.
The real significance of this game is psychological – the US can win in Mexico. There are more asterisks to that statement than in a Beetle Bailey-Sarge fight, but the US knows they can do it. Can they do it in a proper game? Why not? We broke into Fort Knox, and got away with it. So what if we only looted the gift shop.
Okay, because Mexico is still a lot deeper and better, and this game was a fluke among flukes. That stadium is still going to be a hundred miles high and full of a million bloodthirsty Aztecs demanding beating hearts for their sun god…but from now on, we will go in knowing Everest can be climbed, the mile can be run in four minutes, and the US can win in Azteca. The gap hasn’t been closed, by any means. The US now simply has reason to believe, or at least hope, they can leap over it.
And that’s great. That really is. I’d trade today’s win for Olympic gold in a millisecond…but not an Azteca Hexagonal win. And this game made an important win seem attainable. I’m not going to dismiss the psychological importance of the US win.
Which may not be as much as we think, but it’s a lot more than the US had, and it’s an awful lot more than I thought the US would get out of this game. Lalas, Keller and Twellman were right; Mexico should never have scheduled this match.
Hey, you know who might end up being useful? This Geoff Cameron guy.
Oh Looney, sigh.
Though Mexico are better in the attacking sense with a true playmaker in Dos Santos and holding midfielders who can actually hold the ball against the best national teams like Torredo and now Jimenez on the u-23/Olympic level, while we refuse to call up Adu and have Bradley play as an aggressive holding midfielder, Mexico is NOT a LOT deeper, only maybe a bit.
A “lot deeper” is Spain. A “lot deeper” is Brazil and Germany. Heck, a “lot deeper” is England, Uruguay and maybe France, Holland, and Italy.
Mexico is only slightly, slightly deeper, and last night showed that even if a lot of players didn’t want to get hurt for Liga Mx play, that they still wanted to win. It showed in that bossing the first half, and they didn’t want to lose as they showed that in half 2.
The US has a lot of attacking options developing in MLS and in parts of Europe.
I don’t know how much “a lot” is, but this looked “a lot” like the past decade and a half of USA vs. Mexico matches, in which Mexico has purportedly been “a lot” more talented yet have been just as likely to lose as to win (and that’s being kind). The difference this time was it happened, somehow, in Azteca.
They are better dribblers, passers, and possessors, but we consistently seem to score just as many goals as they do when our two sides meet.
There’s no doubt Mexico has gotten much better in recent years, but I think the US is improving too. What has noticeably changed between the two sides is the level of class and mutual respect displayed between the two teams. That I can definitely acknowledge and celebrate.
@slugga
Have you seen Adu play recently? You really want him called up?
Have fun watching the 5 foot shuffle.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a US-Mexico game with less hard nasty fouls…ever. The win matters more or less for the reasons Loney gives (good article sir), but it also helps Mexican futbol. I’m not sure we ever would have seen a night World Cup Qualifier at Azteca (against the US), but now I’m sure we never will. This also means when the US shows up next summer Mexico will not have the kind of complacency they might have had otherwise. All that said, I never thought I’d see an American win at Azteca happen in my lifetime, so I’ll take it.
This game meant nothing to BOTH teams. The fact a cobbled together US team beat a team comprised mostly of he newly-minted Olympic gold medalists — who are likely still recovering from their hang overs — is still an accomplishment. To do it in their citadel of football? That’s even better…but still means little.
I laughed at the musings from the announcers “I wonder if the US team feels the altitude yet”. Don’t more than half those Mexican players play for teams also much lower than 7,940 feet above sea level?
“There’s nowhere on earth that can replicate the Azteca altitude”
Estadio Garcilaso de la Vega in Cuzco is 10,827 feet above sea level compared to Azteca’s 7,300.
Gah – I meant atmosphere, to factor in smog and stadium capacity. Apploggies. – D.
Geoff Cameron…Stoke City legend. Write it down!
Mexico was better, more ball possession, more and better scoring opportunities
But time now to celebrate the first win in Mexico over 75 years
The most amazing thing about this game–first win at Azteca, after 75 years of trying?–how boring it was.
As Dan said, despite the friendly, the rosters, the poor quality play, the one thing to take away from the game for the USMNT is this: When they are playing in Azteca in the future for real stakes, when they walk in the stadium they will know they have won there before and have the belief that they can do it again.
The national stadiums of Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia are all higher than the Azteca. In the case of Bolivia’s Hernando Siles, it’s a little over two miles above sea level. There are multiple professional teams from these countries and also from Chile and Peru that play at higher altitude. Indeed, some are at insane levels, for instance frequent Libertadores participant Real Potosi’s Estadio Victor Agustin Ugarte is at just under 12000 ft above sea level and can hold 32000 spectators.
Oops sorry, the stadium is just under 13000 feet absl.
The US didn’t win that game. Tim Howard won that game.
^^^^
Tim is a team player, he knows it was a team effort.
Or, to put it another way, results matter.
You’re absolutely right in everything you said in that article. The fact that USA won in a friendly that really was overshadowed by Olympic metals seemed minuscule. The psychology plays a heavier role than the conceded game. If Mexico had lost their game in qualify to USA it would have been more devastating. Now Mexico will train even harder against a USA team that plays bunking (defensive). This game had no real effect against Mexico other than conceding a lost that was bound to happen eventually. The mentality here is who cares to losing that one game that was inevitable when we’ve accomplished greater obstacles within almost all divisions. Now it’s time to win the World Cup.
Also the fact that a few people are attempting to make it a better deal than it really was is ridiculous.
It is fun reading the meltdown rants from the Mexispazzoids in their lovely forums.
Disagree with Jough. Tim Howard (and a good showing from the CBs) kept the US from losing the lead. A few minutes before the game, the Univision commentator said it best, the US is defending itself but it’s not without weapons and it can score a goal. Shea’s great run proved that but that also needed a good pass from Beckerman and thoughtful intervention from Boyd.
Mexico really dialed it in on this game. The looked like a team that thought the game was already on just because it was held at Azteca. I think if there is a problem for Mexico now is overconfidence. They have been on a roll for so long now they seem to take huge chunks of games off and play sloppy and still expect to win. Despite winning both their qualifiers so far, they didn’t impress.
Despite the fact the dominated pretty much the whole game, a stupid giveaway to Break Shea and then some horrid defending led to the easy put away by Orozco. It’s the same story for Mexico, failing to put away opportunities, something they have really need to improve in the next few games and the Hex.
Not to malign the US win, ugly ones count just as much as blow outs, but this was an easy victory for Mexico that got away. The US performance wasn’t even mediocre, they plain stunk for most of the game, but still managed to bag that one goal. Hopefully this will serve as a wake up call for Mexico as Chepo and the boys are going to get devoured by the media tomorrow.
Good article. As mentioned, if there was any hope of US beating us here, it was yesterday. Half empty stadium, half ass rosters, friendly game. Both teams played half ass, mexico passing around and not really looking like they cared throughout the match. The US,well I think even you guys have to admit played terrible. You guys were much better last game at Azteca besides the score. The final ten minutes were fun when Mexico actually started pushing after the goal.
Also, to the guy that said it was fun watching the meltdowns, there were no meltdowns. Surprisingly enough, everybody is taking it pretty calmly, even the press. The mere fact that players shook your hands after the match showed that. If this were 3 years ago, when you guys were at your Prime, all hell would’ve broken loose. But right know, we are all pretty much content with our team and the FMF.
We will take the lost, and the burden for the next year, but just a warning, our match in the HEX will be nothing like this. The environment will be much worse, be forewarned. I’m actually hoping that we schedule the match in Monterrey, show you guys how REAL fans are.
Why would Mexico schedule this game? A plausible answer is that the USA pushed hard for the game. The USSF has all the leverage to demand a game in Azteca.
Why?
Because Mexico plays several lucrative friendlies a year in the USA. Do you think Mexico could draw 85K to see Wales play in Mexico City? They barely drew 60 to see a game against their No. 1 rival while basking in the afterglow of Olympic Gold. There was a comment that ticket prices held down attendance last night indicating that Mexico City friendly games are price elastic. Bottom line: Mexico makes big American Dollars playing in front of sell-out crowds paying premium prices in the USA. USSF has to sanction those matches. If USSF wants a game in Azteca, they can get it.
“The gap hasn’t been closed, by any means. The US now simply has reason to believe, or at least hope, they can leap over it.”
Very well put.
“stupid shirts”? You’re high. The worst thing about these shirts is that Nike will junk them in a year’s time. Hoops should be the U.S.’s look from now on.
As another poster said, the “Miserableness Factor” for Azteca wains as more Mexican players play in Europe (unless they play in the Alps). Chicharito was gassed at 60 minutes. There is no logical reason that Mexican players playing abroad should be less miserable in Azteca than American players playing abroad.
Mex is ahead of us, there is a LOT of overlap in that Venn diagram. Also, just to throw out a random – I think Jozy is on the verge of a monster year and will be in the conversation for “who’s the best young forward in Concacaf?”, if not leading it, by the end of this European soccer season.
Dan, when you start being able to watch entire games when Donovan plays (at least a half) and you apparently think he doesn’t play, then the time has come for you to stop writing about soccer.
Since that’s not what I said, maybe the time has come for you to stop reading about soccer. -D.
Maybe Keller and Lalas meant best rivalry in the Northern Hemisphere, given the fading of England-Scotland, Holland-Belgium and Austria-Hungary.
Before last night’s palty crowd, I never realized that there is a Club America logo in the stands at Azteca (and a Coca-Cola ad).
…And the Dan Looney self (US) flagellation tour continues.
Sorry we can’t just all lay down to your altar of political correctness and admit that the USA is the worst soccer country of all time (while we are at it, the US is the worst country of all time, just don’t tell all those Mexicans coming over the border by hook, crook, or boat).
Next time he says something good about the US will be the first.
The US has the most potent meth in the world. If your comment is anything to go by. -D.
How come we can’t reply to any posts?
Because I want people to read every comment previously posted, in case someone already made the reply you were thinking of making. -D.
Hey, I like the shirts. Why slag them off?
Unholyunion,
MLS just isn’t for Adu, even with him having moments of pure brilliance, i.e., the game against the Red Bulls in Philly on the same day “Aguero The Hero” sent the blue side of Manchester in euphoria they are still feeling.
Adu can actually play in this league, but only if he is placed right behind two forwards in the middle. He has to be given the playmakers role officially and a free role to move where he wants so as long as he tracks back.
You have to keep elite talents active in the game.
And look at Lukas Podolski for Germany. Outside of a few great seasons for cologne, his club form hasn’t merit a starting spot for country. Yet, Loew knows that he is quality when given a chance to succeed and be motivated at.
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