And...you like to smell your own butt!

Sporting Goods

I sort of missed this when it first happened over Labor Day weekend, but the US-Mexico World Cup Qualifier post-game produced some of the worst sportsmanship in recent memory.

The Mexico coach, Ricardo La Volpe:

“It's a little team. Here, everyone's interested in baseball and American football and many people didn't even know that a soccer match was being played today. So it's easy for them, because they aren't playing under any pressure. My mother, my grandmother or my great grandmother could play in a team like that.”

Landon Donovan:

“They suck. I'm so happy...I just hate all the talking, all the blah blah they always talk. They think they're the best, even though we've beaten them over and over. After we got that first goal they were never in the game...Hopefully that will shut them up for the next three or four years.”

In La Volpe's defense, a loss to the US has him on the hot seat. And in Donovan's defense, he has apparantly been ripped to shreds by the Mexican press (and some of their players) over the past couple of years. But all in all, these are two teams that really seem to hate each other on a personal level. This isn't just Yankee-Red Sox 2004 stuff, this is Yankee-Red Sox late 1970s stuff.

But prior to all the smack-talk, US handily defeated Mexico 2-0, with a style of play that really put the clamps on Mexico's offense, while providing for an occasional but well-executed counter-attack. Of course, Mexico complained about the style, as they always seem to do when a team plays in a way that makes it difficult for them to win.

The game sent USA to the World Cup, while Mexico qualified just a few days later. Just for fun, and reference, here are the 10 teams that have qualified so far for Germany. That leaves 22 spots to go.

Germany (automatic), Japan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Argentina, USA, Ukraine, Poland, and Mexico.

So perhaps we'll get the next chapter in Germany in June. It's a long way off, but I can't wait.