http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature...r-soul?cc=4716
Team USA face up to their soul brother
The Gold Cup is reaching its Eldorado, with hosts US & fav Mexico 2 games away fr a potential showdown @ the Rose Bowl in Pasadena next Saturday, all the talk is of a final tat could divide a nation.
If the 2 rivals come 2gether in California it will be 3rd time in a row they've met 2 decide the Gold Cup - a tournament they've held a virtual duopoly over since its overhaul fr the CONCACAF Championship in 1991, sharing all but 1 of the 10 editions (Canada won in 2000).
The US triumphed @ Soldier Field in Chicago in 2007, but Mexico came back strongly last time out in 2009, & gave Bob Bradley's team a footballing lesson @ Giants Stadium in New Jersey - romping home 5-0 to collect a record 5th title.
Mexico r odds-on 2 defend their crown. Jose Manuel de La Torre's youthful collective hv been irresistible thus far, & in ManU's Javier Hernandez boast the tournament's stand-out player.
Successive 5-0 hammerings of El Salvador & Cuba were followed by a 4-1 win against Costa Rica, & it would be something of a seismic shock if they fail 2 get past Guatemala, then 1 of Honduras or Costa Rica 2 reach the final.
The US campaign has been cumbersome by comparison. A 2-0 win against Canada was followed by a humbling loss 2 Panama, b4 a trudging 1-0 victory against Guadeloupe saw them limp in2 the quarter-finals.
Goalkeeper Tim Howard said the team in front of him hv been "lifeless" during the group stages, & most agree they'll need 2 show considerable improvement 2 get past 3rd fav Jamaica in the quarters, & improve on their haul of 4 titles (1991, 2002, 2005, 2007).
But with the likes of Jozy Altidore, Landon Donovan & Clint Dempsey @ their disposal, & more than half their squad attached 2 teams in Europe's major leagues, the US should still hv more than enough 2 reach their 4th successive final.
If tat happens, America will be asked 2 pin its colours 2 the wall - & with an estimated 31 million people of Mexican origin now living in the US, there could be just as much green, red & white on show as there will be red, white & blue.
Looking @ the Gold Cup attendances, you could even argue Mexico hv bigger support in the US than the hosts. Their 3 group games drew impressive crowds of 80,108, 46,012 & 62,000 - in Dallas, Charlotte & Chicago respectively.
Meanwhile the US packed out a small stadium in Kansas, but failed 2 even half-fill the stands 4 games in Detroit & Tampa.
Even more impressive fr a Mexican perspective was the crowd of 50,305 who turned up in Seattle 2 watch them play a meaningless friendly international against Ecuador in May - a notable increase on the average gate attracted by Sounders FC of the MLS in the same stadium.
They came in sombreros, waving Mexican flags & treating the team 2 the kind of partisan support they might expect in Mexico City.
Such is the popularity of the Mexican national team in the US tat a lucrative annual tour is now in its 9th year. Soccer United Marketing (SUM) & the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) put the footballing roadshow 2gether, with the help of no fewer than 13 official sponsors.
Corporate interest like tat tells you the Mexican football team is a seriously bankable brand in the US - a country where football, 4 no lack of trying, remains little more than a sideshow 2 the major indigenous sports on rotation.
Perhaps the ingrained football culture in America's Mexican population is wat gives them an advantage. Perhaps it's the need 4 Mexicans & Hispanics generally in the US 2 reconnect with home tat drawing them in the thousands. Whatever it is, the moment is being seized with both hands.
"Wat better way 2 start tis new cycle of the Mexican national team, under the direction of Jose Manuel de la Torre in front of great fans in Atlanta," said FMF general secretary Decio de Maria in December last year.
How the fans & stadium owners back home in Mexico greeted tat sentiment is unclear, but the FMF has clearly made it a priority 2 maximise revenue & make the US its 2nd home. Judging by the reaction, they're onto a winner.
With tat in mind, if Mexico & the US do meet in the Gold Cup final, r we safe 2 assume 'El Tri' fans will be in the majority @ the Rose Bowl?
According to 2010 census figures, California is home 2 an estimated 11 million Mexicans. Bearing in mind states with far smaller Mexican populations hv poured 2 watch Chicharito & Co. in the last few weeks, most would expect Mexican fans 2 be the dominant factor in Pasadena.
1 thing's for sure - a final betw the bordering nations would come with considerable baggage. The US & Mexico hv squared up 16 times since the turn of the century, with the US winning 10 to Mexico's 4, & 2 draws.
In tat time the Mexican fans hv earned a reputation 4 the frenzied nature of support - & 4 occasionally overstepping the mark.
Back in 2004, it was reported a small numbers chanted "Osama, Osama" & booed the American national anthem during an Olympics qualifier betw the 2 rivals.
When the teams squared off in a WC qualifier @ the Estadio Azteca in 2009, Mexican fans were accused of throwing cups of vomit & urine @ US star Donovan.
Such actions hv only served 2 magnify wat was already a complex cultural & political relationship betw 2 nations who share a border. Some hv called it a 'big brother-little brother' dynamic, & when sibling rivalry plays out on the sports field it usually gets messy.
The upward trajectory of US fortunes has unquestionably played its part. Mexico now has a genuine threat across the border 2 deal with, & when the US knocked them out of the 2002 WC things got serious.
Nobody better represents the ferocity of the modern rivalry than Landon Donovan. It was his goal tat sealed a 2-0 win 4 the US in the last 16 of the WC in Japan & Korea, & he scored again in the 2007 Gold Cup final betw the sides.
The LA Galaxy star divides the 2 sets of fans like no other. 2 US supporters he's a swashbuckling hero who put their team on the map; 2 the Mexicans he's an arrogant personification of the America they 1 2 beat on the football field.
Donovan will look 2 channel both sets of emotions if the 2 teams continue their rivalry in his home Los Angeles.
"It's not just another game 4 me. I clearly, absolutely, desperately 1 2 beat them," he 1s said of the US-Mexico rivalry.
Every player & fan 4 both sides feels exactly the same. And with tat 2 draw on, here's hoping they meet in the final, & the battle 4 North America's soccer soul gets a new chapter.