U.S.A. - Mexico World Cup qualifier - Columbus, Ohio

Sigh.

We have so far to go as a soccer fanbase.

Somewhere between urine bombs and the juvenile flashing of the middle finger at a vanquished opponent, lies the ability to win with class while also being creative in the barbs we throw.

 

great result.
I'm going to the match in Nashville in April.

 

It's becoming must-win time if SVG would like to remain behind the bench.

 

Even without the goals, 'Lil Bradley was the best player on the field. Landon was a close second. Really surprised that Bob didn't sub some guys sooner, as both teams were pretty gassed and there was no reason to leave Clint or DMB out there.

Mexico was awful. Dreadful. They were unorganized and they played not to lose by two instead of to tie.

 

Ching should have been pulled for Altidore 10-15 minutes earlier.

 

Wait until the US goes to El Salvador, Costa Rica and Honduras. Watch out for the bags of urine being thrown at US players.

 

I thought that Ching did a better job in the second half than the first. I had no problem if the sub for Jozy was earlier, but Ching wasn't dragging the way that a couple of the other guys were.

Also, HeyDude needs to be a fitness coach after he quits. The oldest guy on the field for the US by a few years and he was making 80 yards runs up the flank all game.

 

We were fortunate as hell on a couple of Mexico's chances. Dos Santos, the diagonal shot across the face of goal and the corner kick. Whew!

But hey, we made ours, they missed there's. That's futbol. Great result.

 

Agreed, great result. Still amazed Mexico didn't put away its chance in the 3rd minute. Bocanegra was shockingly bad there (and overall a rough night for him). Bradley's second goal was hit well and dipped in front of the keeper before it bounced over his hands. He definitely should have had it; Howard would have had it, I'd venture to bet.

I thought Beasley had a solid night; he really played the wind well with his corners all night. Not a Landon fan, but he was a general nuisance for Mexico all night too, and did a nice job on the first goal.

Ching? Paging Mr. Ching? Where was this guy? Not a fan of his any way, so I suppose there's some bias on my part, but I don't recall anything particularly threatening from him.

 

I just thought Ching looked gassed about 10 minutes before Bradley finally pulled him.

 

I think ... *think* ... I'm finally dry. If anyone was in the parking lot when the hail started, you understand how not facetious I'm being.

Fucking nuts. I know very little about soccer, relative to most members of Sam's Army, but damn, was this fun.

For what it's worth: We were yelling shit at the Mexican fans, they were yelling shit at us, but we stayed in the context and it was all good. My cousin started a round of that "aye, aye aye aye, somebody stole my sombrero" song when a handful of Mexican fans walked by the white tents, and they played it up. Hundreds of us faced off with hundreds of them in the parking lot, singing and blowing horns and shit at each other, but nobody died. A couple of Mexican fans yelled "Yanks suck!" at me, but since I'm also a fan of the other Yanks, I'm used to it. Besides, ¡dos a cero! is a hell of a comeback, even before last night's result. Too bad the Party City in town only had the "0" pinata and not the "2", because that's what I wanted to bring.

And say this for the Mexican fans: they know how to get tickets and fly the flag. There was a much bigger contingent than I was expecting, and since most of them got there way early, at first it looked like it was fixing to be a neutral-site match.

That third-minute chance was seriously worrisome, but Bradley played like a motherfucker.

The guys are really easy with fans, too. We stayed at their hotel and they were really good with autograph requests and photos and whatnot. No ego, no sense of inflated self-worth. Good ambassadors.

Damn, what a night.

 

Sounds like lot of fun, MM. I'm seriously jealous. We've never gotten a qualifer in these parts (central Florida), and I don't anything is coming this way soon. We've had a few friendlies, but nothing comprable to a true qualifier.

I'd love to experience that, just once.