US-Mexico: Efficiency, Effectivity and Pretty Futbol

The US would kill to have a player like Nery Castillo. The US would love to field Andres Guardado. And, boy, would the US like to have Barcelona's Mexican starlets. The US would also like to have Mexico's history of playing up to its opponents: remarkable runs in the World Cup and Copa America against quality opponents. The US would love to have even an ounce of Mexico's technical flair. And, yeah, the US would love to have great club teams that can compete in Libertadores.

The Mexican National Team, however, isn't smart enough to realize that they should want a few things that the US has: level-headedness, teamwork and, above all, efficiency.

When I say efficiency, I don't mean that the US finishes its chances (although it certainly did so in February in its friendly 2-0 over Mexico). In the Gold Cup, US finishing was pretty bad. What the US does particularly well is play an ugly game but still manage to create opportunities. It does that with assembly line efficiency that would make Eli Whitney proud. Contrast this to Mexico: the seleccion Azteca is unable to generate real offense that would seem to be merited by its promiscuous show of fine football maneuvers. Guys like Guardado and Castillo should be absolutely lethal to the shakey US defense, but they seemed to think that you get points just by beating their man. You don't. They need to make final passes to men making runs in the box. Apart from Guardado's goal, where were those? Indeed, Mexico got so intoxicated with their pretty futbol that they largely forgot that the US was, despite playing pretty ugly soccer, creating dangerous chances. So when Mexico decided to open up in the second half in an attempt to pile on the US, you could feel a goal coming. Whether or not it would be from the US or from Mexico was up in the air. But all Mexico had to do was give the ball to the US and let the US try to pass out of triple teams-- something the technically challenged Yanks simply cannot do.

Instead, the Mexican team bought their own hype, once again. What's the saying? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. What about "fool me nine times?"

A post scripts:
Is the US the best team in the region? Well, as repeating regional champions, you'd have to say that they are. But if you had your mortgage on the line and needed to bet for a CONCACAF opponent against Brazil, would you pick the US or Mexico? I think Mexico is a better team against the world's best, but a wholly impractical one against the second tier.

How much should we make of the US's record against Mexico on American soil? I'm not sure, but how many victories do you think the US would have if the Yanks played Mexico in Azteca 10 times? I'm thinking of a whole number between zero and 0.5.

Don't get me wrong: when these two teams meet, the US should be favored to get a result. But Mexico deserves respect: their technique and talent are superior to the US, which is what makes them perennial second rounders at the World Cup. The US still can't match that.