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Wednesday, April 28, 2004Soccer: USA vs. MexicoI didn't see much of the Angel game tonight, mostly because I have a natural aversion to watching my team play like shit, but also because there was a much more interesting game being played in Dallas. The US Men's National Soccer team was taking on a Mexico side hungry for revenge after being ingloriously dumped from the World Cup in 2002. This was always a nasty rivalry (we're talking beer bottles full of urine nasty), but it's really taken that next step since Korea/Japan. The best part is that it is now a battle between two world-class teams. No more is this an automatic win for the Mexicans. In fact, the Americans have all but dominated the series in recent years. As I said before, tonight's "friendly" took place in Dallas, Texas. Of course it looked as though it were Dallas, Mexico when you took a quick glance over the crowd. The Cotton Bowl was clearly unfriendly confines for the Americans. Still, a good number of Sam's Army showed up, and boy did they have something to be loud about. The Americans took control right from the outset, as Landon Donovan, DeMarcus Beasly, and Bobby Convey ran circles around the Mexicans. Attack after attack went un-rewarded, however, as the match was tied 0-0 at the break. The half was dominated by the US, in what was possibly their best performance ever. It was clear to all that the US was owed after their first-half performance, and they came out to collect in the second. Once again the Americans streaked by the Mexican defense. They forced save after save from the keeper, and hit the woodwork too many times to count. The second was just as dominating as the first, but the good guys still had nothing to show for it. The clock was well past 90:00, and the game looked bound for a tie. The Americans continued to push, and finally, in the 93rd minute, they broke through. Landon Donovan was fouled about 20 yards from goal, and one final set piece was awarded. Convey struck a sublimely-weighted ball right to the spot, and substitute Tayler Twellman rose above the forest of green jerseys to put it on net. He was denied by the sprawling keeper, who just managed to get a foot on the ball. The ball sat there, just mere feet form the goal line, for anyone to have. It was Eddie Pope who stepped forward to claim it. He blasted it into the empty net, and the US had the goal it so richly deserved. 1-0 was how it ended. The third straight win for the Americans over their arch-rivals. Way to go guys! |
