Are you a potato skins guys? How about cocktail weiners? Everybody loves scallops wrapped in bacon, right?
Do you go more high-end with a quiche or caviar or something else a contestant on 'Top Chef' would whip up?
So here we are, a couple weeks before the last relevant U.S. national team match before the 2010 World Cup on Aug. 12 at Azteca Stadium -- coming to a UHF station near you -- and we get a semi-sneak preview in Sunday's Gold Cup final.
Call it an appetizer.
Of course, Sunday's match from Giants Stadium is almost more about which players aren't there than who will be trotting onto the temporary grass field in East Rutherford, N.J.
Then again, this is still technically the U.S. vs. Mexico so it's hard to scoff at it. Consider it a chicken wing -- you could put buffalo seasoning, teriyaki, barbecue, garlic parm, etc. It doesn't matter, it's still going to taste good.
So what if some of the pantomime villains booth sets of fans have grown to hate -- Rafa Marquez, Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Landon Donovan -- will be nowhere near Exit 16w, it's still the most relevant CONCACAF rivalry being contested in a tournament final.
Sunday most of the eyes -- especially those actually in the stands -- will be on Mexico. (By the way, you stay classy Mexico fans. Did the Costa Rican players deserve to be pelted with cups on every corner kick in Thursday's semifinal in Chicago?)
At this point we know the drill for the U.S. It would be a pretty nice feat to win a tournament with essentially an afterthought roster with at best three or four guys that might actually factor into the rest of the 2010 process.
On the other hand, this is a bit of a bellwether match for El Tri.
We all know how hellish everything has become for Mexico post what we all expected to be a breakthrough showing at the 2007 Copa America. It all seemed ready to set up on a plate for Mexico -- young stars like Nery 'Uno-Brow' Castillo, Gio Dos Santos and Carlos Vela -- making impacts at some of Europe's bigger teams. A core of solid veterans like Pavel Pardo and Carlos Orsorio coupled with the best domestic league in North America.
Then, like Jason Alexander's post-'Seinfeld' career -- it all went to hell.
Mexico missed the 2008 Olympics and fired Hugo Sanchez and replaced him with the walking joke that is Sven-Goran Eriksson.
It's only gotten worse, with El Tri slumping in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying and the debacle that was new coach Javier Aguirre kicking a Panama player right in the junk two weeks ago in Houston during the Gold Cup group stage matches.
Embarrassing on-and-off the field, this is about as low an ebb as we've seen El Tri since they got kicked out of the 1990 World Cup. (Yeah, it happened.)
As it stands, a win over the U.S. -- regardless of who if filling out the U.S. shirts -- on American soil in a cup final would be a nice shot in the arm for a wounded Mexican side. At the least, it'll give El Tri a little extra juice before the main course on Aug. 12.
Bob Bradley & Co. better realize this and not let it happen.
You never want to wake up a sleeping giant. Well, a regional giant as it were.
Miscellania:
* Another subplot for this match, a defacto comparison between the FMF and MLS, with most of the lineups for each team plying their trades in the domestic leagues.
* If there's an outlier in this match, it's Carlos Vela who is by default the most talented player on either roster, at least on paper. As we've seen plenty of times, this doesn't always equate into the actual match, yet Mexico has a definite individual weapon while the U.S. is more of a team collective.
* Consider me not exactly sold on Gio, who the Telemundo announcers go cuckoo-bananas for each and every time he touches the ball. Yes, he had success at FIFA youth tournaments, but maybe he got a ton of residual hype for playing at Barcelona and sort of, vaguely looking like Ronaldinho. How he gets any time at Tottenham this season will remain a mystery.
* It's somewhat strange, outside of Vela and Gio, the Mexico team is pretty much mid-20s journeymen.
* Pressure will something to note in this match. The U.S. really doesn't have too much at stake, aside from personal pride. Meanwhile, Mexico has the weight of the world on its shoulders, so in that regard if I'm Bradley I throw everything forward in the first 10 minutes to look for an early knockout blow.
If that doesn't work, keep pressing since Mexico did cough up the equalizer in the dying minutes of stoppage time Thursday vs. Costa Rica.
* Even if you're being generous, the Gold Cup hasn't yielded too much in terms of increasing the depth of the U.S. talent pool. That said, Bradley might be able to get the best gauge of who he's got from these match with the whole "foxhole" scenario.
Bradley must like the team he's got, since as of Friday afternoon he hasn't called in guys like Ricardo Clark or even Sacha Kljestan for the match.
* It's somewhat amazing that one count 'em ONE U.S. player played in the 2007 Gold Cup final against Mexico -- Brian Ching. By contrast Mexico has three: Jonny Magallon, Alberto Medina and Omar Bravo.
So, yes, if Mexico gets the win there is an excuse for U.S. fans in the rivalry, but it's not like El Tri is at full-strength either. If anything, should the U.S. win it gives even bigger bragging rights than usual since a 'B' team still beat Mexico.
* As per usual, the U.S. defense has a significant physical advantage on the Mexico forwards, yet are giving away quickness and savvy. This might have been a good match for Michael Parkhurst, but it's hard to see Bradley tinkering with what worked vs. Honduras.
* Food for thought, with a solid final and continuted progression at his club, could Troy Perkins usurp Brad Guzan's No. 2 status for U.S. keeper? It's not like Guzan will get a ton of playing time this season behind Brad Friedel at Aston Villa. Then again, Guzan played for Bradley at Chivas USA, which equals a nearly lifetime pass.
* For all I've written about Bob Bradley, at least he's never crunched a guy in the nuts.
Closing thoughts:
It's U.S./Mexico, what more needs to be said? If anything we as fans should be grateful we'll get this match twice in three weeks.
Do you go more high-end with a quiche or caviar or something else a contestant on 'Top Chef' would whip up?
So here we are, a couple weeks before the last relevant U.S. national team match before the 2010 World Cup on Aug. 12 at Azteca Stadium -- coming to a UHF station near you -- and we get a semi-sneak preview in Sunday's Gold Cup final.
Call it an appetizer.
Of course, Sunday's match from Giants Stadium is almost more about which players aren't there than who will be trotting onto the temporary grass field in East Rutherford, N.J.
Then again, this is still technically the U.S. vs. Mexico so it's hard to scoff at it. Consider it a chicken wing -- you could put buffalo seasoning, teriyaki, barbecue, garlic parm, etc. It doesn't matter, it's still going to taste good.
So what if some of the pantomime villains booth sets of fans have grown to hate -- Rafa Marquez, Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Landon Donovan -- will be nowhere near Exit 16w, it's still the most relevant CONCACAF rivalry being contested in a tournament final.
Sunday most of the eyes -- especially those actually in the stands -- will be on Mexico. (By the way, you stay classy Mexico fans. Did the Costa Rican players deserve to be pelted with cups on every corner kick in Thursday's semifinal in Chicago?)
At this point we know the drill for the U.S. It would be a pretty nice feat to win a tournament with essentially an afterthought roster with at best three or four guys that might actually factor into the rest of the 2010 process.
On the other hand, this is a bit of a bellwether match for El Tri.
We all know how hellish everything has become for Mexico post what we all expected to be a breakthrough showing at the 2007 Copa America. It all seemed ready to set up on a plate for Mexico -- young stars like Nery 'Uno-Brow' Castillo, Gio Dos Santos and Carlos Vela -- making impacts at some of Europe's bigger teams. A core of solid veterans like Pavel Pardo and Carlos Orsorio coupled with the best domestic league in North America.
Then, like Jason Alexander's post-'Seinfeld' career -- it all went to hell.
Mexico missed the 2008 Olympics and fired Hugo Sanchez and replaced him with the walking joke that is Sven-Goran Eriksson.
It's only gotten worse, with El Tri slumping in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying and the debacle that was new coach Javier Aguirre kicking a Panama player right in the junk two weeks ago in Houston during the Gold Cup group stage matches.
Embarrassing on-and-off the field, this is about as low an ebb as we've seen El Tri since they got kicked out of the 1990 World Cup. (Yeah, it happened.)
As it stands, a win over the U.S. -- regardless of who if filling out the U.S. shirts -- on American soil in a cup final would be a nice shot in the arm for a wounded Mexican side. At the least, it'll give El Tri a little extra juice before the main course on Aug. 12.
Bob Bradley & Co. better realize this and not let it happen.
You never want to wake up a sleeping giant. Well, a regional giant as it were.
Miscellania:
* Another subplot for this match, a defacto comparison between the FMF and MLS, with most of the lineups for each team plying their trades in the domestic leagues.
* If there's an outlier in this match, it's Carlos Vela who is by default the most talented player on either roster, at least on paper. As we've seen plenty of times, this doesn't always equate into the actual match, yet Mexico has a definite individual weapon while the U.S. is more of a team collective.
* Consider me not exactly sold on Gio, who the Telemundo announcers go cuckoo-bananas for each and every time he touches the ball. Yes, he had success at FIFA youth tournaments, but maybe he got a ton of residual hype for playing at Barcelona and sort of, vaguely looking like Ronaldinho. How he gets any time at Tottenham this season will remain a mystery.
* It's somewhat strange, outside of Vela and Gio, the Mexico team is pretty much mid-20s journeymen.
* Pressure will something to note in this match. The U.S. really doesn't have too much at stake, aside from personal pride. Meanwhile, Mexico has the weight of the world on its shoulders, so in that regard if I'm Bradley I throw everything forward in the first 10 minutes to look for an early knockout blow.
If that doesn't work, keep pressing since Mexico did cough up the equalizer in the dying minutes of stoppage time Thursday vs. Costa Rica.
* Even if you're being generous, the Gold Cup hasn't yielded too much in terms of increasing the depth of the U.S. talent pool. That said, Bradley might be able to get the best gauge of who he's got from these match with the whole "foxhole" scenario.
Bradley must like the team he's got, since as of Friday afternoon he hasn't called in guys like Ricardo Clark or even Sacha Kljestan for the match.
* It's somewhat amazing that one count 'em ONE U.S. player played in the 2007 Gold Cup final against Mexico -- Brian Ching. By contrast Mexico has three: Jonny Magallon, Alberto Medina and Omar Bravo.
So, yes, if Mexico gets the win there is an excuse for U.S. fans in the rivalry, but it's not like El Tri is at full-strength either. If anything, should the U.S. win it gives even bigger bragging rights than usual since a 'B' team still beat Mexico.
* As per usual, the U.S. defense has a significant physical advantage on the Mexico forwards, yet are giving away quickness and savvy. This might have been a good match for Michael Parkhurst, but it's hard to see Bradley tinkering with what worked vs. Honduras.
* Food for thought, with a solid final and continuted progression at his club, could Troy Perkins usurp Brad Guzan's No. 2 status for U.S. keeper? It's not like Guzan will get a ton of playing time this season behind Brad Friedel at Aston Villa. Then again, Guzan played for Bradley at Chivas USA, which equals a nearly lifetime pass.
* For all I've written about Bob Bradley, at least he's never crunched a guy in the nuts.
Closing thoughts:
It's U.S./Mexico, what more needs to be said? If anything we as fans should be grateful we'll get this match twice in three weeks.
Labels: concacaf, Gold Cup, Mexico is our bitch, Soccer, USMNT
I dunno, Gio was just running circles around the Costa Rica defense last night, and made 2 or 3 chances that should have been put away by Vela and others. The main thing he has is the old drifts-in-and-out-of-games problem. I still can't believe he can't get a game somewhere better than Ipswich Town. But then, I'm always playing Fifa manager mode in my head and theoretically matching up decent high-upside attacking players with mid-table clubs who could use some creativity, but it never seems to happen in real life. You would think the Blackburns and Fulhams and Wigans of the world would snap these dudes up in nothing flat, but instead they end up either languishing at bigger clubs or getting loaned to second division clubs. I guess maybe it's a smart way for the big clubs to deprive the would-be mid-table contenders of oxygen, but I don't see why the players go along with it and let their careers languish. $$$, I guess, but they'd make more money in the long run if they took the Palacios or Valencia route and actually fulfilled their potential.