February 11, 2009

US-Mexico

Wow, after watching that intro for the US-Mexico World Cup qualifier, I'm legitimately fired up! That duel national anthem thing was cool.

Seems like there is a sizeable Mexican crowd at this game. Didn't realize there were that many Mexicans in Columbus. I think I've represented a couple of the fans in the crowd on No Operator's License charges. I could all but guarantee that Columbus Police is going to have a DUI/No Ops checkpoint on the north side of the city tonight.

Question for soccer fans, why do they do that intro with the little kids holding hands with the players?? Is that some sort of sportsmanship thing?? Part of me thinks it is cool, but also potentially a little creepy.

ESPN2 is hilarious by the way. I haven't watched the Deuce in a long time other than for Mike and Mike. It's all commercials for bass fishing and strongman and BMX bikes and other auto racing stuff. Maybe it's time for a ESPN2-Versus merger or something.

Go USA. World Cup soccer is pretty underrated.
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3 comments:

Stan said...

Columbus is the soccer mecca of America.

A random comment, we should start calling the MLS champion the World champ like we do for all the other sports teams who win a title in the US.

12:29 AM
Kenny said...

I was offered tickets to this game and I passed. Sorry Doug and Stan. Soccer still stinks in my book.

6:55 AM
Craig said...

Mexicans flock from all over to these games, the Mexican fans were hardly all locals. The upside of Columbus is that it's small enough, and we have good enough control over ticket distribution there, that we can keep it a primarily pro-U.S. crowd. If this game were played in Chicago, it would be a virtual away game (see the 2007 Gold Cup).

The intro with the kids is standard fare for high-level soccer matches, and not just international matches either. They also do it for club games.

Stan, we'd never get away with that. The World Champion right now is Manchester United---they beat LDU Quito of Ecuador (upset winner of the South American club championship last summer) in the final of the World Club Cup. If we want an MLS world champ., we need to start by winning the CONCACAF Champions League to earn a slot in the WCC, then we need to win the WCC (likely having to beat a team like Boca Juniors and a team like Manchester United or AC Milan along the way).

k, you missed out on a great experience. The Classico is right up there with the best soccer rivalries, you're not likely to find an atmosphere to match it for another four years (until we do it again in qualifying for the 2014 World Cup).

9:04 PM

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