US fans can revel in Mexico loss
MOSCOW – As Mexican tears fell over yet another frustrating World Cup exit, so too did a sigh of relief flow through the soccer community in the United States.
At least, among those supporters of the American national team committed enough not to temporarily switch allegiance for this tournament, perhaps because they got paid for it. Yes, Landon Donovan, I’m looking at you.
Mexico is hurting right now, feeling the sting of a mind-boggling seventh consecutive elimination at the round of 16 stage and outplayed (and out-simulated) by Neymar and his pals.
Yet while it is not necessary is directly wallow in Mexico’s anguish, it can at least be a source of comfort to the suffering U.S. supporter still troubled by the fact that the Stars and Stripes are absent from this World Cup, and that no one else seems to care.
Because, if things had gone differently, American soccer would have lost some shine from one of the best things about it at elite level.
Namely, a true, genuine, fierce and, here is the crucial bit, competitive rivalry – with Mexico.
Not all rivalries are created equal. Some are actually rivalries in name only, and simply because of geography or outdated history. Real rivalries, the ones that truly stir us, are best served when there is a measure of equality between the teams. Such things ebb and flow, naturally, but without some sense of parity, so much of the interest falls apart.
In the English Premier League, Manchester United-Manchester City mattered deeply when City was the poor little brother. Now, with EPL titles, European places and much more up for grabs, it has a significantly greater bite.
If Mexico, having already beaten defending world champion Germany in the group stage, beat Brazil and surged into the quarterfinals (possibly even deeper), it would have created too much separation between the two teams.
At things stand, Mexico is already ahead of the U.S. by whatever metric you can think of. It is ranked 15th in the world, compared to 25th. It qualified for this World Cup by easily finishing top of the final CONCACAF hexagonal group. The U.S., as we know, didn’t.
Mexico won the CONCACAF Cup to seal a place in the Confederations Cup, then reached the semifinal of it. It ended the U.S.’ habit of winning home World Cup qualifiers between the teams with a victory in Columbus, a few days after the 2016 presidential election. It has a more talented squad. Historically, it has qualified for 16 World Cups to the USA’s nine.
A triumphant run, to say, the semifinals, would have established Mexico as one of the truly elite teams in soccer and been too much for this rivalry. Had that been the case, El Tri would rightly have been looking up and onwards, at ways to topple the long-standing bluebloods of the game, rather than worrying about such trivial matters as local boasting.
Now, it has no choice. And the U.S. has an opportunity, with a new generation of players coming through, to try to narrow the gap. It will be a bit of a slow burn. There is a friendly between the squads in Nashville on Sept. 11, but friendlies mean little and the outcome carries no weight.
The CONCACAF Gold Cup doesn’t exact get the juices flowing, but the U.S. will defend that crown next year, in the next somewhat meaningful opportunity for the teams to meet.
It won’t do so on equal terms, for Mexico holds all the bragging rights at this point. It has earned them, whether U.S. fans like it or not.
But it hasn’t disappeared off into the distance and the chance to turn things around will present itself to the Americans soon enough. For that, it can be grateful that Mexico’s World Cup run ended when it did.