Unfreakingbelievable! What’s not shocking is that the U.S. won this game, but the way they dominated. Sure, Mexico had chances, but in general the Americans totally frustrated them. You could see that in the way they tackled and tried to bait the U.S. The U.S. didn’t let the Mexicans play their game, but also played their own counter-attacking game that kept Mexico on edge. Claudio Reyna, who’ve I heavily criticized in the past for not playing well for the U.S., had a standout game. He played wide instead of in the middle, and that was a much better role for him. It opened up the mid-field, forcing the American players to pass the ball well, and it gave us a controlling pressence along the side. He started the first goal, getting past his man on the right and running impressively quickly up the side. He crossed it to Josh Wolff in the penalty area who had two men on him, so it didn’t seem like a threat. But Josh instantly fed the ball behind him — a brilliant pass that found an on-rushing Brian McBride who side-footed it into the goal. The early goal boosted the confidence of the U.S., who’d given up two early goals to Poland in their last game, and shocked the Mexicans. (Afterward, the Mexican coach said the Americans “Got lucky.” Give me a break. It was a fantastic goal generated out of team play.) The Mexicans tried hard but couldn’t equalize, and late in the game Eddie Lewis broke away on the left. Running at a full sprint he crossed the ball into the Mexican penalty area. Landon Donovan outran the Mexican defense and perfectly headed the ball home. With a two-goal lead, the Americans could smell victory. The Mexicans fouled hard and often, finally getting their captain sent off on a brutal tackle against Cobie Jones. But it was not Mexico’s day: the U.S. wins and advances to the quarter-finals for the first time ever! (Yeah, technically we made in 1930, but there was no “Round of 16” back then, so I don’t count it.)
A couple words about the missed penalty call. On replay, it looked like American John O’Brien played a ball with his hand but the ref didn’t give the Mexicans a penalty. The idiotic ESPN commentators should made a meal out of that, harping on it non-stop. Look, non-calls and missed calls are a part of life. Get over it. If you’re going to talk about that call, you must give equal time to the Landon Donovan goal against Poland that was taken away, and I’ve hardly heard anyone mention that. That was a key turning point in the Poland game for me, giving the U.S. a triple-whammy: giving up a goal, scoring a goal that didn’t count, and giving up a second goal. The non-penalty in the Mexico game, while it could have change momentum by tying the score, might not of: Friedel’s saved two penalties already, so Mexico is deluding themselves to think the penalty was a gimmie goal. Anyway, things like that happen. The U.S. had bad calls against it earlier in the Cup, and benefited in this case. Things balance out in the end.
So the U.S. plays Germany on Friday. In a way, I’d felt that reaching the quarters is good enough for the U.S. — no sense being greedy. But that was until I heard the comment by “The Kaiser,” Franz Beckenbauer, the legendary German. He said that Germany has “no hard matches until the Semi-finals.” Okay, Beck — get ready for the USA. We love being the underdog. We’re gonna kick your butt all the way home! Final: 2-0 USA!
