Taking US and Mexico’s results so far in a complete vacuum, Mexico has triumphed. They win the series four points to one, thanks to breaking the Columbus streak. Barring some truly nutty results, they will almost certainly win the Hexagonal outright for the first time in twenty years (assuming anyone cares) and qualify for the 2018 World Cup long before we do.
But I still think the only reason Juan Carlos Osorio has a job is because Mexico won a game he didn’t even coach. It was interim coach Tuca Ferretti who beat the US in the Rose Bowl (as usual) (call it Azteca del Norte) in 2015 to qualify for this year’s Confederations Cup. It would have been awkward to put in a new coach hours before the Confederation Cup, after all. And who knows, Mexico has won the thing before, right?
I do remember the last time Mexico drew at home in a World Cup qualifier against the United States, back in 2013, they decided not to fire the coach. But they should have, since a few months later Mexico actually lost in the Azteca. It took Graham Zusi to rescue Mexico’s chances, in a tale now slightly more than twice told. Since then, Mexico has restored order. Sure, they’re burdened with one of the worst coaches in New York Red Bulls history, but that’s nothing new for them. They survived Bora Milutinovic, after all.
But you can’t deny that Mexico/US is one of the most intense, unforgiving, merciless rivalries in the world, with never a hint of JERMAINE WHAT ARE YOU DOING
FINE, Gio’s your teammate. And nothing is more unbreakable than the bond between players who have been teammates for less than six damned months. What’s with the Chicharito jersey, then?
This is SUPPOSED to be a RIVALRY. If my own son played for Mexico, I’d…well, actually, I’m pretty sure he’s not eligible. Unless Maury has a big surprise for me. Has FIFA ruled on this kind of eligibility issue? What is the protocol when your birth certificate says Dos a Cero, but your paternity test says Pancho Villa’s Army?
Change the subject? What a fine idea!
Has Christian Pulisic given any refunds on his guarantee yet? He guaranteed us a win, not a miserable little point. I think Mexico did us a huge favor by keeping him off the scoresheet, and let me tell you why. Fortunately, he wasn’t humiliated in the Azteca, but he didn’t get a hat trick either. I’m not worried about the effect of hype on Pulisic – he starts in the Bundesliga these days, after all, so he’ll either retain a little humility or turn into Juergen Klinsmann the player, obviating concerns about hype.
I’m thinking more for our own sakes. For at least twenty years now, American fans have believed in the imminent arrival of a soccer Messiah. Freddy Adu is probably the most prominent example of a failed deliverer, but the hype is obviously such that living up to it is impossible. If Pulisic were exempt from ridiculous expectations from our ridiculous fanbase, that would probably be a bigger miracle than if he actually fulfilled them.
The enormity of the fantasies we have towards players like this keeps us from actually appreciating them. We don’t have anything like the track record of success that would allow us to call players like Claudio Reyna and Landon Donovan disappointments, but that isn’t going to stop us. Even Bruce Arena compared Pulisic to Donovan back in March, like the Record did before the qualifier – and in both cases, a sizeable chunk of our fanbase was offended on Pulisic’s behalf.
Dylan Hernandez is the LA Dodgers beat writer, not the LA Galaxy beat writer, but that’s still a strange position to take. In my opinion.
Of course, we’re not the only fans to do this. This is what ESPN did to a Lakers draft pick today: LONZO BALL HAS A LONG WAY TO LIVE UP TO MAGIC JOHNSON.
For those of you who don't follow basketball, and may not have heard of the player – Magic Johnson was a multi-position All-American from Michigan State who was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in….oh, you've heard of him.
But in ESPN’s tiny defense, there’s money in hot-taking ginned-up controversies like this for major sports (so, was Harold Miner the new Michael Jordan or not?). No one is getting clicks or ratings from us building up and tearing down our own sandcastles.
Speaking of players we got excited about as youth stars but failed to live up to insane expectations despite an objectively successful career – man, wasn’t Michael Bradley’s goal just the tastiest thing you ever saw? That’s the third best US goal I’ve ever seen – just behind Caligiuri’s Shot Heard Round the World and Feilhaber’s Gold Cup 2007 masterpiece. Caligiuri and Feilhaber weren’t gifted their opportunities due to opponent dunderheadedness, which puts those two ahead on aesthetics.
Feilhaber was a potential messiah, naturally. Bradley was, too, based on his Heerenveen goalscoring madness in 2007/2008. He was even a teenager when he did it. Bradley’s going to be thirty next month, and he’s been getting caps since 2006. We can talk about whether Dempsey or Pulisic will own Donovan’s goalscoring record before it’s all over, but it might not be too soon to wonder whether Bradley will catch Cobi Jones. (Bradley needs 31 caps to tie, and 32 to pass, Cobi Jones’ record of 164. Kristine Lilly is probably safe, though.)
Caligiuri would have been a potential messiah, except that wasn’t yet a thing in 1989.
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And, sure enough, San Diego voted to delay their soccer stadium vote until after next round of MLS expansion teams are named.
San Diego remains eligible for spots 27 and 28…well, unless the stadium vote flops at the ballot box in November 2018. Unless Don Garber and MLS owners are so heavily invested in San Diego as a necessary expansion team that they decide to delay expansion announcements, or grant the franchise on a conditional basis like they did with Miami.
Which I’m not seeing. Sacramento and Tampa Bay have pretty much jumped through the hoops they’ve needed to. Cincinnati and San Antonio are nearly there. All four of those cities would have instant rivalries with existing MLS teams. And we can even throw in Phoenix or Nashville, if we simply let go of the David Beckham dream. Yeah, Phoenix might melt, but Miami might sink into the Atlantic, too, so it all balances out.
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RIP Tony DiCicco 1948-2017
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