USA Mexico WCQ TODAY 4PM ET

[DukeJack]

I haven't seen it posted anywhere else, but we play Mexico today at 4:00 ET. Some big story lines:

1) The US hadn't lost to Mexico on American soil since 1999 until the Gold Cup last month. The Mexican team was spiraling out of control and looked like they wouldn't make it out of the group stages, but gave us the worst beatdown in the rivalry since the '60s. What will this do for their confidence?

2) The US is 0-22-1 all time in Mexico, with 0-18-1 of that in the Azteca. Our only result was in 1997, a 0-0 tie in which we were down a man over 60 minutes. With the confidence from the Confeds Cup and the anger of what happened to our C team, is this the year we finally win?

3) The Estadio Azteca is Home Field Advantage. 110,000 Mexicans who blame the gringos for their problems and bombard our guys with batteries, flares, bags of urine, and sometimes worse. It is enclosed, making the noise that much louder. Mexico City is at 7400 feet, with some of the worst pollution in the world. It is normal for our players to get oxygen treatment at halftime as they come off the field. But with thunderstorms and seasonally cooler temperatures in the forecast, what will that do to the conditions?

The pregame show is being broadcast by ESPN at 330 eastern, with Telemundo broadcasting in Spanish at 4 plus SAP in English! NBC owns the rights to this game and most cable satellite providers are showing mun2, which will carry the game in English, for free today. Try this link for your channel information:

http://www.holamun2.com/usavsmex

The US is currently in second place in the CONCACAF hexagonal. The top three teams are guaranteed to advance to the World Cup, and the fourth enters a playoff against the fifth-place from South America. Currently Mexico is in that spot. Full standings here:

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminar ... index.html

GO USA!

[DukeJack]

US Starting Lineup:

----------------------Howard-----------------------
-Cherundolo---Onyweu---DeMerit---Bocanegra-
-----------------------------Clark-------------------
---------------Bradley-------------------------------
-Dempsey--------------------------------Donovan-
---------------------Davies--------------------------
-----------------------------Ching-------------------

[T-Dog]

Charlie Davies goal! 1-0 America in the 9th minute!

Only the 2nd US goal ever scored in the Azteca.

[ASUMountaineer]

My buddy's dad moved to Cancun from Charlotte a few years ago and he's at the game. I bet that is quite the experience. Go USA!

[TwinTownBisonFan]

officiating has been... problematic thusfar.

1-1 at half.

[slycat]

2-1 Mexico. I hate Mexico because their players have little class. I get killing time at the end of a game but this was just ridiculous. It took over a minute for a Mexican player to get to the ball for a throw in. Ref did nothing yet was throwing yellows at USA all day.

And whats with the game being at 3???? Come on thats when all us hard working Americans are at work.

[DukeJack]

2-1 Mexico. I hate Mexico because their players have little class. I get killing time at the end of a game but this was just ridiculous. It took over a minute for a Mexican player to get to the ball for a throw in. Ref did nothing yet was throwing yellows at USA all day.

And whats with the game being at 3???? Come on thats when all us hard working Americans are at work.

Yeah, very disappointing. My guess is that it has something to do with the ref wanting to escape alive and being a pussy, but whatever. They took it to us all game and our clearances up the side to no one didn't help.

Game was at 3 because the FMF figured there would be a greater effect on the US team, in some combination of heat, humidity, and smog. Kinda like the way we play at Columbus because of the cold.

[JMU DJ]

And whats with the game being at 3???? Come on thats when all us hard working Americans are at work.

Well I found out today that my neighbors across the street do in fact not have jobs and are Mexican. When I got home from work around 6 there were about 50 cars parked in front of my house and across the street... apparently they had been there since 2... there are still about 20 cars across the street. These guys really celebrate a victory.

[Grizalltheway]

2-1 Mexico. I hate Mexico because their players have little class. I get killing time at the end of a game but this was just ridiculous. It took over a minute for a Mexican player to get to the ball for a throw in. Ref did nothing yet was throwing yellows at USA all day.

And whats with the game being at 3???? Come on thats when all us hard working Americans are at work.

Yeah, very disappointing. My guess is that it has something to do with the ref wanting to escape alive and being a pussy, but whatever. They took it to us all game and our clearances up the side to no one didn't help.

Game was at 3 because the FMF figured there would be a greater effect on the US team, in some combination of heat, humidity, and smog. Kinda like the way we play at Columbus because of the cold.

Wouldn't Foxboro be better for that?

[DukeJack]

Wouldn't Foxboro be better for that?

Probably, but cold is only part of the reason. It was originally chosen because it was a February game in 2001, so the weather played a role, Columbus Crew Stadium was new-ish, and the USSF could try and control ticket sales. The temps were so low for that game that the Mexican team refused to go out for warmups, and their media dubbed it "La Guerra Fria", or the Cold War. We won that game 2-0, we won the WCQ there in 2005 2-0 and earlier this year 2-0. It's become as close to home field advantage as we can get.

Foxboro has a couple problems: turf and too many seats. Russia has started playing games on turf, and FIFA allows it because they say they don't have any suitable grass fields during the winter months, a qualifier we don't make. Also, aside from Sam's Army, the American Outlaws, and the other supporters groups it's very hard to control ticket sales to the general public. The SGs get advance mailings for passwords and such to make sure Americans get tickets, but the Mexicans have shown they will pay a lot of money when general sales begin, see Bridgeview or Giants Stadium. Having that game at a SSS like CCS is the best way to minimize general sales.

But Gulati, saint that he is, tried to offer the FMF a trade for this cycle - we play at a southern venue like Reliant Stadium if they move theirs from Azteca. They stayed, so we kept the game in Columbus.

[EPJr]

US fans needed a convoy of armed guards to get out of Mexico game

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmAu30sG9tU

[EPJr]

http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/grant ... -flu-virus