Mexico

The Short List: Two Sides Of The Gold Cup Coin

Which way will Mexico’s dominating win over the U.S. take El Tri? Goal.com’s Allen Ramsey gives his take on both sides of the coin, and what it could mean for the rest of CONCACAF.

Jul 29, 2009 6:12:31 PM

More On : Mexico

By Allen Ramsey

Fans in the United States and their neighbors to the south wait impatiently for the game to finally arive. It’s the top talk of CONCACAF every time Mexico and the U.S. play. Die-hards on both sides have two favorite teams. U.S. fans root for the U.S. and whoever is playing Mexico, while Mexican fans pull for El Tri and anyone who is playing the U.S.

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When the U.S. could only draw El Salvador in El Salvador, fans of El Tri flooded Goal.com with gleeful comments. U.S. fans responded in kind when Mexico left El Salvador with their heads held low.

It’s the natural “your enemy’s enemy is your friend” scenario and it makes the game more fun. Over the past decade the rivalry has grown to a point that each and every game has a high significance to the players and the fans. Friendly or tournament final, they all mean something these days. And right now, Mexico holds the crown.

Five goals! That’s a big margin no matter who is on the pitch. More importantly, it was a final on U.S. soil. Luckily for fans in red, white and blue, it won’t take long to get another crack at their arch-nemesis. But has the reaper returned to CONCACAF? Has Mexico reclaimed its spot at the top of North America’s footballing food chain?

Well, judging by a neutral ground win over Hex leader Costa Rica (albeit in penalties), who brought a fairly strong side to the Gold Cup, and a dominating performance over the U.S., Mexico would have to be judged as the top team of the moment.

More importantly for Mexico, they found a way to score goals. (Carlos Vela will do that for you.) The days of frustratingly dominant performances marred by ineptitude in front of the net seem to be gone. The youngsters of El Tri progressed nicely in after the knockout round and showed why they are considered the golden future of Mexico. Watching the combination of Gio Dos Santos and Vela terrorize the U.S. defenders was a thing of beauty, or horror, depending on which side you were pulling for.

So, with that match in mind, and diverting slightly from the normal list form, I think now would be an appropriate time to examine the two things the Gold Cup final could have done to El Tri.

El Tri Is Back

The confidence that Mexico played with in the Gold Cup is what has been missing. Since the “good old days” when the green and red jersey was good for a two goal lead, Mexico has lacked that killer instinct that confidence brings. Even early in the Gold Cup it seemed to be missing.

But Gio Dos Santos found his rhythm, Carlos Vela got healthy, Guillermo Franco showed some finishing touch, and Miguel Sabah snatched the golden boot. It’s been a long time since Mexico had that kind of firepower on the front line, and a fully fit Nery Castillo should add even more punch in August.

In the middle of the pitch Mexico also played with the swagger of the El Tri of old. Gerardo Torrado is one of the top midfielders in the region, and in the Gold Cup he brought his game back to a very high level. Never one to impress with world beating skills, Torrado is the type of consistent star that every top flight national team needs. Though most of the talent from the Gold Cup midfield won’t see the field for the August qualifier, Torrado’s spot in the middle of the pitch should be a calming influence on whoever is placed around him.

Add in with him the most dangerous player Mexico has in Andres Guardado and suddenly the Mexican midfield is a scary group, not the group that was dominated in Columbus in February.

But the most important thing for Mexico is the belief that they are once again CONCACAF’s best team. Beating the U.S. on American soil had to be a moral boost for a team that really can’t afford a bad result in Azteca for the rest of qualifying. The monkey is off their back so to speak.

While talent, tactics, heart, and motivation are always talked about by fans and commentators, the players I speak to always mention confidence as the top reason for good play, and a lack of confidence as the top reason for bad play. Riding the wave of confidence could lead Mexico to new heights, or it could lead back to the place that started this all.

We Think, Therefore We’re Not

One problem Mexico has had in the past is the frustration factor. The Mexican team knows how talented they are. They know they should be able to break down any defense, but when they don’t they lose the plot quickly.

In Columbus, Mexico got dominated early and the frustration showed in their play. Dos Santos couldn’t get on the ball and the combination of Clint Dempsey and Frankie Hejduk on one side and DaMarcus Beasley and Heath Pearce on the other kept the starlet quiet. Castillo had no answer for the hard tackles of Carlos Bocanegra and Oguchi Onyewu, and that was that. When Rafa Marquez got tossed, the match was essentially on ice.

Running through the U.S.’s lower level side may have given the young Mexican who haven’t seen the U.S.’s top side a touch of overconfidence. Nine of the players from that roster will square off with the U.S. in Azteca, but if they see it as another easy victory they will be in for a shock.

While the Mexican roster will only carry eleven changes, the U.S. roster will likely only have two or three returning players with Brian Ching as the only player from the Gold Cup final who is likely to see much playing time.

Underestimating the U.S. roster is what started this rivalry a decade ago. Mexico was on cruise control for so long that beating the U.S. was a forgone conclusion. As the tide turned, and Mexico found the matches more difficult, and the wars of attrition that followed favored the bigger more athletic U.S. sides.

Azteca itself should be enough to keep Mexico riding the high of the Gold Cup. I won’t even go into all the reasons why it’s one of the biggest home field advantages in the world, but facts are facts. Mexico is hard to beat at their home stadium.

But trends are made to be broken, and as my colleague Noah Davis pointed out, revenge for an embarrassing loss could be taken by knocking Mexico even further out of World Cup contention.

And make no mistake about it, the young confident Mexican side will be facing a much tougher opponent on August 12 than they did on Sunday. Mentally and physically the U.S.’s top roster offers a different set of challenges than the Gold Cup squad did. They’re bigger, faster, and in most cases more skilled.

While not using the first choice squad for the Gold Cup is no excuse for being embarrassed by your biggest rival, and by no means was Mexico’s best XI on the pitch, the U.S. will bring a much more experienced (at least internationally) squad to Azteca. Mexico should still have the upper hand, (100,000 screaming fans is a mighty 12th man) but taken too lightly the U.S. can be a very dangerous team.

It’s too early for predictions. Too many things can change between now and then, especially with the regular seasons starting back up in Mexico and Europe. But one thing is for sure, the 2009 rubber match will not be for the faint of heart.

Allen Ramsey is an associate editor of Goal.com. The Short List runs every Wednesday on Goal.com.

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