Wait! Hold on a second and think about it for a minute. The full Mexican U-20 team feels the only way they can beat a US U-20 with half the starters gone is to play goon-ball? And our youngsters don't fall for the ploy, instead they keep their heads on straight and win the game? Who was coaching the Mexi U-20's, Santa Anna? Beating Mexico is pretty easy when they spend the game trying to beat themselves.
Freddy Adu has no idea how well he is protected by Dema, you can tell Dema feels he is Freddy's guardian on the pitch...i feel sorry for the first guy that trys to take a cheap shot at the little guy.
arent some of you guys over reacting? specially when none of you guys have seen the higlights I saw highlights of the Mexico-Brazil match and there were also a couple red cards, but it gets to the point that most friendlies that are played in the US come with bad officiating. maybe it has to do with the different soccer culture, but I have watched matches where (US ref) Brian Hall allows rugby tackling and not do anything and i have seen (Mex ref) Armando Archundia red card a player for cussing at him. Now when you interchange the different types of officiating to the different styles, it will cuase problems. Unfortunately, the officiating in CONCACAF is bad. We have many federations that are semi-professional. We also have leagues that are professional in name, but far from being professional.
if you guys go to the yahoo search by "date" there is one more pic..... (don't know how to post it) Message reads: " United States players (L to R) Ofori Sarkodie, Nathan Sturgis, Freddy Adu and Preston Zimmerman celebrate after their 2-1 win over Mexico, in their under 21 friendly match in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida November 21, 2004. REUTERS/Jason Arnold Reuters - 2 minutes ago" BTW, to follow up on Morocco's point..."cutural thing" LOL I believe Borja is one of the younger kids (never mind, he is not- he is a reg. U-20) so if this moron Parra fouled after restart just for the hell of injuring him when no time was left, it is worse than criminal......not that it would not be criminal enough if there was simply the intent to injure, regardless of the target
I would agree that the incositancies in officating between the CONCACAF nations is problematic...but to get a 3 red cards in a friendly there had to some serious offenses somewhere in the mix..I'll wait until thr Telemundo highlights if there are any before I say much more than that.
I remember drving to Dallas to catch the Us mexico match. and early on in the game, a US forward dives right at the Mexican keeper, but it was intentional. is that a cultural thing? but the thing is, most Yanks want to villanize opposing players for thing that US players do too. its over. rub some vagisil.
Went to the match. Yes, yes, yes (to your comments). I believe 2 guys got kicked out at the end. I was right behind the goal/ref when it happened. One Mexican guy bumped, and had a brief hold of ref's shirt...pushing him back....that shoulda been one red. Another guy was yelling, "********, ********, ********" for 30 seconds at the ref. Probably the other red. I was about 40 feet from the play. Looked like a takedown to me (although I couldn't totally see the feet of the instigator/attacker). There certainly was major contact from behind and no ball contact....fair enough PK. US played very mature in 2nd half, even though they didn't look so dangerous for much of it. As usual, Szetela (to me) at least looked like the most polished overall. The US defense looked much better as game went on....
It was Conner Casey and most beleived if it were not a friendly he would have seen red for that challenge. As I recall there was no malice in it but he knew it was the wrong decision to make and didn't argue the call.
Yikes!....If i might highlight some of the stuff from your article: ..... "Adu mentioned the rough treatment on the field, saying he was spit on "4 or 5 times." ...... "The match took a dramatic switch when Alberto Ramirez was sent off for kicking Will John as the U.S. attacker lay prone" .... Some class Still wondering about Borja's situation....Hopefully the non mention means he is all right.....
"It's just a rivalry thing with Mexico, even at the youth level," Adu said. "Every time you play a team like that you have to give it your all and try to win. We started off slow. Some of the younger guys were a little overwhelmed. We had to calm them down, some of us who have played with the 20s, and the guys responded pretty well." oh freddy
This is a very valid point. I will say this however, after watching this rivalry grow the Mexicans have obtained a bit of a rep in the US, and not undeserved. Marquez's actions in the last cup being the most notable, but also the refusal of Mexican players to shake the hands of Americans after defeats doesn't help. When Mexico defeats the US I have yet to see a US player lash out and be ejected. They lose, shake hands and go on. Over the last decade I have seen Mexico refuse any type of sporting behaviour while lashing out when being defeated. This is a recurring theme over the last several years. It is not isolated over the last decade. It is very easy to dislike a rival who can't acknowledge a match, and then attempts to injure. As a Mexican fan you cannot deny this if you are being honest with yourself. Both teams have had their equal share of rough and tumble play over the years, but El Tri has not carried themselves gracefully against the Americans (acknowledged in the Mexican press often I might add) and have earned a lot of the disdain for their actions and blatant physical unapologetic abuse here. Works both ways. If this is how Mexican Nat teams want to handle themselves then you should expect this type of response. When was the last time a US player recieved a red against Mexico? Not sure I even rememeber one outside of that foul in Azteca during qualies in 97, and that was more stupidity than brutality if I recall. All I know as a fan for over 25 years is, if you are beating or challenging El Tri get ready for someone to be hurt by them in a brutal fashion. Just accepted as a fact of life. Sorry, it just always happens. What can I say. My Mexican teammates say the same thing for crying out loud!!!! BTW - I am a CA and Cruz Azul fan and have watched the Mexicna league for just as long (I currently play in a Mexican league), so it seems pretty straight forward after all these years. Beat a Mexican team and someone gets hurt. The way it has always been. I've seen it, and my own teamamtes acknowledge it. Famous line when Peru went up against Mexico 3-0 in a recent friendly at Giants Stadium from the two Mexican I was attending with - "We'll be lucky if this game finishes. Someone on Peru is gonna get hurt...soon." 3 minutes later...bingo. Brawl. A theme has developed for me over 25 years and it's hard not to see it, especially if other Mexicans are stating it.
I was at that game. Maybe if the keeper wasn't 4 feet tall, Casey wouldn't have ran over him. When Casey went up for a long ball, he jumped higher than the keeper's hands. Sanchez already had control of the ball. Now if at the time that Casey slid and saw that the keeper had control, he should have just bent his legs to ease the contact, but that didnt happen. I was at the press booth when i saw it, i couldnt believe it. The prees booth was silent and more so because they couldnt believe after seeing the replay on the monitor how Casey still had his leg extended (which is why you can conclude he went in to shake up Sanchez. Nice attempt in de-villanizing an act that if a Mexican player would have done, you and your tribe would be all over the mexican player calling them scumbags, Yeah, because 2 players challenging for a ball and stomping an opponent on the ground are equal incidents. I don't think we have to look any further than the Copa America final that Mexico lost to Colombia. With about 10 minutes left, El Cry is down and Colombia is controoling possession. Pretty soon, the high tackles and cheap fouls cost Mexico a player and they start the same crap with the ref that they did in this game. Like I said, you want to villify one and pass off the other like its nothing
I think its you who just wants to beileve that every player who dons 'El Tri' (3 colors, whoop-de-doo btw. How do you get off calling yourself El Tri when so many flags of the world have only 3 colors?) is a saint incapable of being a dirty player.