US Soccer in Mexico!

Tonight is the first game for the US National Mens Soccer team since they lost to Brazil in the finials of the Confederations Cup, which was played in South Africa back in June. To get to the finials, they stunned the soccer world by beating a very talented Spainish team. Tonight they are playing their biggest rivials in the International soccer world, Mexico. The game is being played in Mexico City which will be packe with over 100,000 fans, almost all of them cheering against the red, white and blue.

This is significant since the Americans are looking to snap a 72-year losing streak on Mexican soil. After playing the Mexican national team 22 times in Mexico since 1937, the best they have ever done was a scoreless tie in 1997. The last time they faced each other in Mexico was in 2005. Mexican fans booed the U.S. national anthem and taunted the Americans with chants of "Osama! Osama!" in reference to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The small faction of Americans in attendance were protected by riot police and were escorted out of the stadium when the game was over.

This is going to be a very physical game and I expect to see a lot of yellow cards and possibly some red! It suspect there will be some dirty plays by the home team, as they are known as one of the dirtiest teams at that level. The US team is tied at the top of the CONCACAF standings so even if they lose, they would still move on to the World Cup in 2010. But if Mexico loses, they would have to play a wild card game to get into the World Cup. Belive me, they don’t want to do that!

This is going to be a crazy game! It has been sold out for months and the Cinepolis cinema chain is showing the game in 22 movie theaters in 13 cities. They are playing in an intimidating stadium, they will be playing at 7,000 ft above sea level and it will be terribly hot at game time. The way the US gets over these factors is to play their style of game and they need to get the first goal. If they let Mexico score first or play their style, they might be in trouble. All I know is I have to get home from work a little earlier since the game kicks off at 4pm ET.

Go USA!