Tuesday Mornings

This is an Arsenal heavy morning. Great FA Cup replay win yesterday against Cardiff, 4-0. The highlight of course was the return of Eduardo (and two wonderful goals). After the horrific scenes from over a year ago, just to see him walking again was wonderful let alone playing and scoring against top competition.

Bendtner is an idiot

Seriously, this guy is a fool. Sons were discussing the relative merits of Bendtner versus Fletcher yesterday (everything in the Sons' lives revolves around Arsenal and Man U), and it was agreed that Fletch strictly dominates the Dane. New rule: if you are a striker and have scored only four goals in 19 games, you are barred for speaking to the public. 

Bigger they are, the harder they fall

Great picture of the oligarch. Chelsea are falling apart before our very eyes, and for those of us who think that Chelski have done so much damage to club level football, this is a sweet time to be alive. Now if only the Gunners could jump them for fourth in the league. Oh, and just for fun. 

Giggsy

The only United player you will ever hear me speak well of, I fully support the Giggsy for POTY movement. Probably the most amazing career of any British player EVER, Giggsy has been long on team achievements, but woefully short on individual accolades. Now is a good time to change that. And yes I have a man-crush on the Welshman - he oozes machismo.

Expected Lineup (guestimation)

Howard

Bornstein Bocanegra Gooch Hejdunk 

Da Beas Bradley Sacha Deuce 

Donovan 

Ching

The Big Chalupa

Recipe for a great game: mix 1 part Mexican flair with 2 parts US industriousness, bake in Columbus for 90 minutes.

Is anyone else about to pop with excitement right now? As my esteemed partner in crime notes, the game tonight is the second biggest event in the four-year world soccer cycle. USA v Mexico. Its enough to bring out the ethno-nationalist in all of us. 

Right now the weather for tonight's game is looking decidedly dreary, which no doubt excites the U.S. fans - just not the ones attending the game mind you. (Highlander's mom flat-out refused to travel to the game because "watching on TV is far more comfortable". My guess is that Highlander's mom's sentiments accurately captures the sentiments of the Mexican players.) True, it could be a little colder from my perspective, but a little rain, a lot of hostile crowd, and a long trip could spell trouble for the Mexicans.

Alas, I smell a trap tonight. Yes, the U.S. has dominated the results against Mexico on U.S. soil over the last decade, but they have by no means dominated on the field. The U.S. has been consistently good at catching a lucky break at the right time in these games. The worry is that this luck must run out at some point. I expect the Mexicans to show some steel away from home for once, and a 1-1 draw seems in the offing. 

Of course, if the U.S. comes out on top tonight, I expect Sven to be fired before he sets foot back on Mexican soil. I am still one of the few people who thinks Sven knows what he is doing, but he clearly doesn't understand Mexican culture (neither do I), and his inability to bridge this divide is overshadowing any improvements on the field in terms of tactics and players. The coach-culture fit here is a disaster, and I don't see Sven survivng until SA. 

I could say "let's have a good game", but I wouldn't mean it. Instead, let's have a U.S. win.

Mexico vs. USA: The Hype

Here we are on the eve of what I would say is the second biggest event in the USA's four year soccer cycle. We hardly get excited about the Gold Cup or the Confederations Cup, and US Soccer isn't ready to take our entry into Copa America seriously, leaving the USA v. Mexico in world cup qualifiers as second to only the World Cup Finals on our soccer calendar. Tomorrow's version takes place in Columbus with the USA riding an 8 year undefeated home game streak against Mexico. Most of the pundits are reluctant to pick an upset here, but I worry that just such a result could be in the cards. Our full squad hasn't played together in a competitive game recently, and I'd argue we limped to the finish line of the last round of qualifying. MLS players are on a break while many european based players are just emerging from the busiest part of their schedule. It's not exactly a recipe for disaster, but it doesn't lend itself to success either.