US-Mexico - AAARRRGGGHHH!

Yep, yesterday's game made me want to scream. Long, loud, and profanely. Why? It wasn't that the US lost. Nor did it have anything to do with lineups, tactics or anything related to Bob Bradley. Even the dreadful officiating wasn't the cause. No, the sole villain in this case is a man named Bill Gates. Right around the 74th minute, Mr Gates' infernal creation, Windows, decided to take a powder. All of the usual complaints hit at once. The screen froze, the "End Program" function didn't, alt-control-delete wouldn't take, nothing worked. In the end, I had to kill the power to reboot. Anyone whose had to take that approach knows what happened. It took about two and a half days to reboot. When I finally got the game back up, it was just in time to see the end credits and the final score. Needless to say, I was less than pleased, especially since Al Gore's invention was my only recourse to watch the game. So Mr. Gates, wherever you are, that middle finger from the Mexican fan on the front page of El Tiempo this morning also represents my feelings toward you (at least for the time being).

What did I think about the game? Until I see the third I missed, I can't really give an honest judgement. From what I am hearing, I may just give it a pass. Like everyone else, I was elated by the superb Donovan to Davies goal for the US, but aside from that I never got the feeling that the US was going to threaten again. Even after going down, the Mexican side continued to play their style, and within minutes it was clear they were solidly back in control. Castro's strike was brilliant, but he had enough time to bake a cake since Bradley Jr. had over committed to cover Blanco. From that point on, I was just hoping to escape with a point, especially after the three yellow cards to US defenders (Onyewu's hand ball I could at least buy as a professional foul, but the cards to DeMerit and Bocanegra were soft, to be polite). After the crash, when I finally got back on and saw the final score, I can't say I was surprised. The winning goal (having seen the replay) looks like a typical Azteca goal, with a Mexican substitute capitalizing on tired legs. Yes, Juarez made a fine run in beating Donovan and Bocanegra, but DeMerit didn't have enough left to get over and cover the cross, and Onyewu was caught too close to the top of the box to cover DeMerit's mark, Sabah. Still and all, to me it was a just result. Aside from an even opening ten minutes, this was Mexico's game, and they deserved the result.

The US players really have to look at this game and be upset. I'm not sure why, but this was a team that seemed overconfident to the point of cockiness before the game, and outside of Davies, Onyewu, and Holden in a substitute role, it was not justified. Davies for me was the US man of the match, as besides the goal he was the only attacking threat for the US. I still can't help but wonder what might have happened if Davies had connected on Holden's terrific cross in the 71st, or he hadn't been ruled offside (close but correct) a minute later. Onyewu is fast on the road to being the best defender the US has ever produced, and while his clearances left a bit to be desired, he was the rock at the back that kept the Mexican attack at bay for 85 minutes. As mentioned above, I don't think either goal can be laid at his feet. Holden came in and added what little spark was apparent in the US offense later in the game. Tim Howard was ok in goal with one brilliant save on Dos Santos, but several scary moments that defenders had to clean up. However, he too could not be faulted for either goal ( a screaming golazo and a wide open man 6 yards out). For everyone else, this was a game to forget. Leading this group were Bocanegra, Dempsey, and Ching. Bocanegra was just dreadful. Poor touches, lousy clearances and repeatedly getting torched by opposing flank players is usually a direct path to the bench. However, Bocanegra is the best of a batch of bad options at left defender, so this nightmare likely won't affect his status. Dempsey was simply anonymous, and after his scoring exploits at the Confederations Cup, that is not good enough. Again, though, he has to stay on the pitch just for those moments of brilliance he provides. Ching was a disaster at holding forward. His play in this game may have been the worst of the three, as he appears to have forgotten how to trap the ball. When you are supposed to hold the ball so your team can advance up the field, and you can't even get more than one touch, that's a problem. If he had 30 touches in the game, I would bet that 50-75% resulted in turnovers. He was a big part of the reason the US simply could not possess the ball. Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't take a shot at Donovan. While he did have one moment of brilliance (the turn and pass that released Davies for the US goal), he was mostly anonymous for the rest of the game. To cap a bad day off, he was beaten by Juarez on the run the that lead to the winning goal. If the US is to be successful, Donovan has to influence play as he did in the first 10 minutes, and not as he did in the last 80.

For the US, I thought this was a disappointing result, but not a crushing defeat. After six of the ten Hexagonal matches, they are tied for second with Honduras (third on goal difference), and a point up on Mexico (the US has a +4 goal difference over El Tri). After Trinidad & Tobago beat El Salvador last night, it looks more and more like all four of the top teams are safe. That means the US, Costa Rica, Honduras and Mexico are battling to avoid the play-in game against the 5th place South American qualifier, which will likely come from among Ecuador, Uruguay, Columbia, and Venezuela. Trinidad & Tobago and El Salvador are in deep holes on only 5 points and given the schedules I don't think they can recover. Honduras' surprising win over Costa Rica (the surprise was the score, not the fact they won) mixes up the pot a bit, especially since it really hurt Costa Rica on goal difference. Each team still has a tough road game to play, though it appears the US may have a little easier path in the next pair of games as they get bottom teams El Salvador at home and T&T on the road, while Mexico has to visit the cauldron in Costa Rica before getting Honduras back at home. Honduras and Costa Rica each have a tough match and an easier one in the September pair. I think everything will come down to the last match day, with the US having an advantage in playing Costa Rica at home to win the group with 20 points, followed by Mexico on goal difference at 19, Costa Rica with 19, and Honduras going to the play-in game on 17. We'll know how good a prognosticator I am in about 62 days.

Thanks for reading!