A bag of orange soccer balls says it all about the ever-growing,
always-lively soccer rivalry between NAFTA neighbors Mexico and the United
States.
The teams were about to face off 16 months ago as final-round qualifying
commenced for World Cup 2002. The venue was Columbus, Ohio. In February.
It was hardly an accident that U.S. Soccer had selected a potentially
frigid venue. Reports out of Mexico hinted at player concerns from a
group that typically basks in balmier conditions.
To drive home the point, U.S. Soccer officials sent their worthy
opponents a bag of orange Nike balls; orange soccer balls are sometimes
deployed in Europe on snowy days so they can be spotted more easily
against a backdrop of the white stuff.
"We just wanted to make sure they knew that we might need them," a
smiling U.S. Soccer spokesman Jim Moorhouse said.
As it happened, both teams qualified from the region. And both managed
to survive the first round of the World Cup, a 32-team tournament that
has now been winnowed to 16.
The single-elimination phase of the tournament began Saturday. Mexico
and the United States meet in a survival game in the wee hours Monday,
1:30 a.m. (ESPN, Ch. 23).
Gamesmanship, close matches, schoolboy shenanigans and a few bizarre
happenings have marked the rivalry for the last decade. Not
coincidentally, that also marks the period of time when U.S. Soccer has
climbed out of third-world status in the global game.
The United States' upward scramble has been a bummer for Mexico,
formerly the chief of CONCACAF soccer. (CONCACAF is a Spanish acronym
translated loosely into the Soccer Confederation of North and Central
America and the Caribbean.)
AP
U.S. midfielder Earnie Stewart says the rivalry with Mexico is a
"hate-love relationship."
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Just as Mexico once dominated the region, the team known as the
Tricolores dominated what could hardly be called a rivalry with Team
USA for much of the 20th century. The United States is 7-6-6 in the
series since 1990, however.
"You can toss a coin," U.S. midfielder Earnie Stewart said. "We win a
few, then they win a few. It's a great rivalry in CONCACAF, and I'm
pretty sure you'll see that Monday. It's a hate-love relationship. It's
a good hate; a sportsmanship hate."
Perhaps. But good sportsmanship hasn't always been a priority.
Ask Alexi Lalas, the former U.S. international who was on the business
end of one of the worst examples. A small skirmish broke out during a
contest in Los Angeles in 1997. It was mostly just finger wagging and
milling about, until ...
A devious boot to Lalas' midsection saw him crumple suddenly. It was
difficult to identify the culprit in the fray. Lalas lay on the turf in
agony from what he later termed "a full assault on my manhood."
A subsequent newspaper photo fingered Mexican defender Ramon Ramirez as
the perpetrator. He sent a signed copy of the photo to Lalas.
"It's such an intense rivalry, mixed with respect, mixed with loath,"
Lalas said later.
Horns honking outside the U.S. hotel on pre-game evenings (to disrupt
sleep) is common when the teams meet below the Rio Grande. U.S. players
tell stories of objects tossed at them from the stands – including
plastic bags of urine – and American flags burning in the stands.
Games in Mexico City's mammoth Azteca Stadium can be intimidating for
anyone – especially the team Mexico loves to hate. If a stomping,
chanting crowd of 110,000-115,000 isn't enough, the city's altitude and
infamous smog make a demanding sport that much harder.
"You usually play on a warm day," Arena said. "You are at altitude, so
you are playing in the mid 80s at 7,200 feet in an environment that is
polluted and with 110,000 people who are not supporting your team. It is
not easy. "
The games certainly haven't been. The teams' most recent two qualifiers
in Mexico City – for the 1998 and 2002 World Cups – have produced just
one goal. That was in Mexico's 1-0 win last year. In 1997, Team USA's
0-0 tie was hailed as a grand achievement.
But a lack of goals doesn't mean the games haven't been eventful. A
glaring error by popular Mexican goalkeeper Jorge Campos gifted the
United States the important icebreaker in the 2-0 win in Columbus.
And U.S. goalkeeper Kasey Keller, usually as steady as they come, mishit
a clearing pass as the teams played a qualifier in Foxboro, Mass., in
1997. The ball smacked Carlos Hermosillo in the face, bouncing off the
Mexican forward into the U.S. goal in a 2-2 tie.
That game and the tie in Mexico City later that year hastened the demise
of then-Mexican coach Bora Milutinovic, the gypsy coach who has also
directed the United States. Milutinovic had taken over for Miguel Mejia
Baron, who was publicly dressed down for a 4-0 loss to the United States
in 1995, seen as a low-water mark for Mexican soccer.
"I know Mexico can lose to Brazil, and they can lose to Germany and
Italy," U.S. backup goalkeeper Tony Meola once said. "But they can't
lose to the United States, and that's just the way it is."
