Category: Rugby

JUNCTION CITY, KS – What is it about US-Mexico qualifiers and my inability to watch them?

In 2009 I was on the Cowboys charter headed for the Bay area and was relegated to the cellphone to follow the US play at the Azteca. Last night, on my to cover Texas vs. Kansas St., we resorted to twitter to keep us up to date on what was happening.

Shock result doesn't do it justice. Grant Wahl tweeted "the biggest upset in women's soccer history."

And who can argue? The US women are the standard bearers of the sport. Multiple gold medals, a World Cup, and a regional dominance that is unquestioned and unrivaled. The numbers speak for themselves: In the 21 previous qualifiers, all of them are wins, and the goal differential was +128.

The US women are going to have to play a few more qualifiers before heading to Germany 2011. Mexico punched their ticket last night with the 2-1 win.

The victory is a tribute to the young women, most of whom are under 25, who have improved immensely over the years. A testament to Leonardo Cuellar, who started the women's program out thin air in 1998. Cuellar and his players have taken a lot of lumps and were at the business end of a lot of lop-sided scores. Amazingly, FMF has stuck with him. It has taken a while, but Mexico's women's program has started to bear fruit. Earlier this summer, the U17 became the first women's team to make it past the group stage in a world cup. If only the men's team had a sliver of the continuity that Cuellar has enjoyed.

And last night the senior team slew a giant.

On a personal note, I am very happy for the team, and especially so for Cuellar. He was one of my favorite players on my favorite team growing up.

But he'll be the first to tell you that this isn't his accomplishment.

"At the end of the day, all the credit goes to the ladies. They are the ones with the ball at their feet, making those decisions. It's a clear example that there is talent in Mexico."

I also want to recognize the bigsoccer members who post in the US Women's Soccer N&A forum. It is not often that a discussion about a US-Mexico match doesn't degenerate into an unreadable mess that is exacerbated by both sides. I learned a lot about the women's team reading the posts, and I learned a lot about the posters who recognized and respected what they had witnessed.

Good luck to the US Women vs. Costa Rica, and then hopefully Italy.

I didn't talk about the Columbus Crew sale in my Herb Caen-style tidbits post because I thought it deserved a little more reflection. I just did a GIS for "Precourt Sports Ventures," now the second most prominent PSV in the soccer world. I got to page six before I hit something that wasn't an article or blog post announcing the Crew purchase…and that was Anthony Precourt's LinkedIn page. PSV's main Internet presence, outside the Crew's homepage, is this Facebook account, which seems to be a whole lot of nothing and for all I know is a parody account. Anthony Precourt himself either is the victim of a parody Twitter account, or doesn't rate the coveted "verified" status. Just as a point of comparison, Sal Zizzo's Twitter account is verified.

So, uh, I'm just gonna ask – this fellow's been vetted, right? Being the son of a Really Rich Guy has had mixed success in MLS – Merritt Paulson and Antonio Cue come to mind, unless you also count Robert Kraft and the Hunt family…so, uh, again, mixed. Then again, Ken Horowitz and Jorge Vergara had nearly unimpeachable records of self-made success.

I was thrilled to hear that Precourt promised to keep the team in Columbus – although in the back of my head I hear Roger Smith saying "I haven't been entirely truthful with you, Francine." I realize this was all a million years ago, but Columbus was the original fan-driven MLS team. The Crew was the first professional (well, openly professional) team in Columbus…sorry, it has been brought to my attention that the Columbus Clippers do not field a team of volunteers. Okay, they were a pro sports team that didn't ship their players off to – okay, well, Friedel and Stern John and Brian McBride left for bigger teams, but – look, the thing is, they got nine thousand season ticket deposits when a lot of much larger communities looked as if they couldn't possibly care less. When their highest profile players turned out to be lemons – Doctor Khumalo was terminally washed up, and Paul Caligiuri was calling his lawyers and travel agents throughout 1996 – the team churned out the "Hardest Working Team" mantra, and won without stars long before Real Salt Lake. They also helped set the template of MLS success in non-traditional sports cities without a lot of existing pro competition – it's not that much of a coincidence that MLS' first stadium was built there.

Heck, in the first couple of years it was common for media to refer to them as the Columbus (Oh.) Crew, so people wouldn't think they played in Georgia or Mississippi or Wisconsin. They haven't come as far as the college football team that used to be known as Miami of Florida, but at least they don't have to specify which state they play in.

The league would probably forbid moving the Crew, for the same negative reason that Chivas USA languishes in Carson – that would take a market off the table for expansion, and expansion money in recent years has bought an awful lot of happiness for MLS. So until team number 24 takes the field, MLS will remain in Columbus. I hope it remains there for a long time afterward. Kansas City proved that even the most moribund of MLS 1.0 can enjoy a huge renaissance.

And if that rebirth is midwifed by someone with about as much traceable history as the Amish mafia, who am I to complain.

By the way, although only one team remains with the original owners, both the Hunt Sports Group and AEG have been with the league since the beginning, and remain with the league…just not with their original teams. Major League Soccer is weird.

Yes, I do think this is a more interesting story than Clint Dempsey. Great players have passed through MLS before, and they will again. The Columbus Crew have been one of the league's definitive fan-driven underdog cultures through two decades of roller coaster highs and lows, and the league has gone close to a decade without moving or folding a team. Traditions and institutions are built slowly, very slowly – I'm sure we'll all have time to dwell on Dempseymania, but twenty years of soccer is more meaningful to me than one week outdrawing the Seahawks.

Vodka and hookers for everybody!!!!

It's easy to be cynical about the selection since it's essentially one big organized crime cabal and FIFA is very comfortable in that kind of environment.

And of course people will say that they spread a bunch of money around under the table.

But Blatter was known to strongly favor the Russian bid as part of his "legacy" (read: Nobel Peace Prize application).

He believes that his mission is to spread the World Cup around.

Here comes 2022.

* (Hat Tip to BigSoccer legend Clint Eastwood): THE AP IS REPORTING that NYRB forward Thierry Henry will miss Friday's match with LA due to a sprained MCL.

No, I am not making this up.

Pop the champagne corks, light the fireworks and crank up Kool and the Gangs' "Celebrate"; MLS has managed to pull back from the mouth of the abyss.

MLS, carefully reviewing the incident wherein Thierry Henry, in an effort to focus attention on himself after not scoring a goal, managed through sheer jackassery to injure Dallas GK Kevin Hartmen, surely took all the circumstances into account before deciding that Henry should be fined about the same amount that he tips the guy who details his car.

It is almost certainly coincidental that the league had scheduled the launch of a major PR push this week to capitalize on Fridays' Galaxy – RedBulls match, complete with banner headlines and a special video:

Displaying wisdom, logic and a sense of justice worthy of the greatest minds in history, the league determined that a little MCL injury doesn't amount to a bucket of warm spit compared to the larger goal of putting FIVE DESIGNATED PLAYERS IN THE SAME GAME! FIVE! COUNT 'EM! FIVE! on a TV screen near you.

Keep your eyes on the prize, as they say.

Now maybe if les Taureaux Rouges were scheduled to play Colorado or Houston in four days then sure, suspend the guy. The league wasn't going to be spending much money on a "Henry vs. Omar Cummings" PR campaign anyway.

(Just in passing, here's my candidate for "Unintentionally Hilarious Article of the Year", courtesy of the normally dimwitted Bleacher Report, and try not to spit coffee on that keyboard when you read it because the IT department is pretty backed up today:

WILL DAVID BECKHAM START AGAINST NEW YORK?

Gee, good question. As long as you're at it guys, why not ponder whether the ocean is wet, mountains are tall and Don Garber would do Whoopie Goldberg in Macy's window and give you 20 minutes to draw a crowd in return for a 5 share in next weeks' Neilson ratings)

It's also worth noting that, as with anything connected with David Beckham (HERE FOR EXAMPLE is a ludicrous piece about how he and Gordon Ramsey, in an effort to "bond with their nippers" (no comment, no sir, not me) went on a camping trip but ended up dodging bullets from Mexicans and so instead checked in to a hotel) this incident has been reported on every sports page in every country on Earth, and since "getting MLS noticed" is one of the main reasons they are paying these guys all that money, in a very real sense Henry is simply doing his job.

Be that as it may, a lot of guys are trying to draw a corollary between some other MLS incident-injury-review-punishment and this one in order to either prove that this decision is consistent or, conversely, to demonstrate that it's simply another example of how MLS coddles superstars and squats on everybody else.

But since there's really no remotely equivalent case where any player – whether a world footballing icon or a third round Superdraft pick out of Eastern Idaho Baptist Teachers' College – has done something anywhere remotely near this utterly stupid, it's simply impossible.

Most of the argument seems to hinge on the fact that since the referee apparently observed the entire incident and chose not to sanction it in any way, therefore there can be no grounds for complaint. Right or wrong, this argument goes, it was a judgment call (or no-call) and should not be second guessed.

The league does, as we all know, review off-the-ball incidents which the referee did not observe, on the not-illogical theory that just because you were able to do something dirty behind the officials' back does not mean you should go unpunished.

They also review carded offenses with an eye towards meting out punishments that go beyond those available to the game official if the situation warrants it.

At the same time, the league has on occasion issued suspensions – essentially issuing an after-the-fact red card – after reviewing incidents that the referee did in fact see and chose not to card. In fact, it's happened twice to everyones' favorite disgrace to the sport Dema Kovalenko for breaking legs.

In fairness, it must be said that it's hard to see how Henrys' showboating, arrogant obnoxiousness qualifies as "violent conduct" in any real sense of the term as it is applied in soccer.

But I think the disciplinary committees' biggest error was in describing what Mr. Handball Cheat did as "unsporting conduct".

Because of course "unsporting conduct" is a specific violation of the LOTG, for which the required – ie. non-optional – remedy is a caution and, in this case, a caution would have been Henrys' second of the game, meaning that he was due a sendoff and a one game suspension.

So at it's most basic, the committee called a spade a spade and then made diamonds trump.

Schellas Hyndman got it entirely right when he said, in his post game remarks, that the referee choked on the call because he didn't have the manparts to send Legendary World Superstar Thierry Henry to the locker room.

It would seem that the league did exactly the same thing.

I've been to Pizza Hut Park twice, and it's a very underrated venue. Of course, the FC Dallas organization has historically hid their lights under bushels…maybe not deliberately.

But if they're going to schedule games in August during the day, they really should slap a little covering on the place, rather than assume every paying customer enjoys baking in the sun like lizards.

I suppose I should spare a little thought for the players, but hey, it was an exciting game! Okay, maybe it's a little early to anoint a Cup contender based on a home win over a ten-man expansion team, but this is easily the best Dallas team since Jason Kreis was around. They've still only lost twice, and if they win their game in hand, they're within seven points of the Supporters Shield lead. Which, thanks to the Galaxy hitting the wall with both fists, has officially become a race again.

And that was the only game worth mentioning Sunday.

MLS unwisely distributed this hyperactive Fire preview over the weekend, which necessitated this morning's rather defensive response to the disappointing aftermath. "Freddie Ljungberg – Adequate Replacement For Justin Mapp? The Controversy Rages" probably wasn't the reaction MLS was hoping for.

But I understand the necessity for some excitement around the Fire. I'm not entirely sure that Andrew Hauptmann was hoping for a .500 record and a nailbiting playoff race with the Colorado Rapids when Carlos de los Cobos was picked to replace Denis Hamlett. My guess is that the best way Freddie Ljungberg could sell tickets in Chicago is if he's put to work extending the Orange Line to Toyota Park, but I'm sure the Fire brain trust knows what it's doing. Hey, at least Toyota Park has a roof already.

Every team has now played one game at the World Cup. The games have been defined by tense, defensive, play, a scarcity of goals, and soccer purists defending the simple beauty of a draw. In other words, the world cup so far just hasn't been all that good.

And then the Swiss beat Spain.

Spain is a terrific team and had earned the right to be considered one of the favorites of the tournament, along with Brazil. They could very well play, but the chances of playing in the first round of the knockouts, not the last, has increased dramatically.

La Furia Roja has a relentless attack. We all can see the waves of playmakers to the goal mouth. But how effective is that attack when they fall behind? Spain hasn't lost much at all over the past four years, so they haven't had to find out. They fell behind only once since the last world cup. They couldn't punch through the US, and they couldn't punch through the Swiss today.

They get the Catrachos next. Will Spain up their goal differential, or will they make their fans suffer yet again. Here's hoping that David Suazo is fit enough to give the Spaniards something to think about. Honduras was very timid today against Chile. They played like the Concacaf minnows the whole world thinks they are instead of the fearless pests we know they can be. I sure hope they take the governor off against Spain.

Brazil did just enough to get by a plucky North Korea team that served notice that just because they are the weakest team in the group, they won't be a pushover. The saddest display of the tournament so far was the forgettable draw between the Cote d'Ivoire and Portugal. Teams with that much talent should never have to play not to lose.

Winston Reid's goal is Exhibit A of why the World Cup is so special. The Kiwis don't have much of a chance to advance out of Group F, but they are still alive for now. And the point they earned against Slovakia was their biggest achievement in their footie history. They might well lose their next two matches, but they have that injury time stunner forever. Italy is off to their patented slow start, which probably means they have a 5 to 6 game run in them. But they will have to do it without GiGi Buffon, who looks to be out for a few weeks.

Holland did what it needed to do against Denmark. And Japan got the jump on Cameroon in a slight upset. In one of the more intriguing groups of the Cup, the drama looks to be reserved for the 2nd spot. The Netherlands shouldn't have any problems wrapping up the top spot. But we thought that of Spain, didn't we.

I do find it interesting that out of the 10 wins in the tournament so far, 6 of them have come from non European teams. 2 of those are from Asia. Unfortunately, Concacaf is one of 2 confederations that has not registered a win.

The second match starts later today. South Africa plays Uruguay on one of their National Holidays. Nice scheduling.

OK, so we're all supposed to be as giddy as Cathoilic Schoolgirls on a trip to the Vatican today in anticipation of the Clash of the Titans.

Of course it's mostly the Battle of the Bucks, since the truth is that the FIVE COUNT 'EM FIVE Designated Players on the pitch (I'm sure they'll have Thierry hanging around someplace so that the director out in ESPNs' truck can cut to him from time to time) represent a staggering $21.7 million in guaranteed compensation from their clubs. or about 30% of the entire league payroll of $71.3 million.

Put another way, Henry and Beckham individually make more money than every team except their own. LAs' two DPs pull down 78% of their teams' payroll; Henry, Marquez and Angel represent 83% of theirs.

So the real question is: except for the supposed "historical" aspect of the match, is this game likely to be all that compelling outside of New York and Los Angeles?

Put another way: will you actually tune in at 11PM Eastern and watch it? Or is this the kind of game you put on your DVR while you either go to bed or watch a movie with the significant other or go prowling for poon someplace and then never actually get around to watching unless someone's leg gets broken and there's a big hoo-hah going on next week about whether the instigator (ie. Dema Kovalenko) really meant to do it. (Yes)

Well, as a public service I hereby offer the following: Landon Donovan will still be the best player on the field and this is the kind of game he shines in, and Dema Kovalenko will spend the evening stalking Mahdi Ballouchys' knees and ankles.

Advantage LA.

Now that we've dispensed with the game you can go ahead and miss, I have one tonight that you really, truly, absolutely must see:

#1 Akron vs. #2 Tulsa on FSC at 8 PM.

Yeah, yeah, I know. You don't watch college soccer because it sucks. You also don't watch WPS because it sucks. And you don't watch USSF2/NASL/USL1 soccer because it sucks. And you don't watch indoor because it sucks.

Quite the little snob you're becoming there, Mango. Just saying.

Anyway, there's a really good reason why you ought to watch this game tonight, namely that next January you'll be shrieking and howling about how your team needs to draft one or another of these guys and it might be nice if you had the first damned clue what you're talking about.

Consider Akron University:

They've played ten games so far this year and have yet to give up a goal. They went to the North Carolina Tournmanet a couple of weeks ago and beat the #3 Tarheels and #4 Wake Forest 3-0 and 2-0 respectively.

More importantly to you, the first pick in the 2009 MLS Superdraft was SteveZakuani from Akron. The fourth pick in 2010 was Herrmann Trophy winner Teal Bunbury of Akron. So was the #10 pick. Blair Gavin. And #47 pick, Ben Zemanski, is a starter for Chivas.

And here's the scary part: it's possible that this years' team, without them, has better personnel.

If you folow the game at all then you're very familiar with TOP DRAWER SOCCER which, among other things, ranks the nations' Top 100 College Players.

The latest list, which came out on Wednesday, had the folowing AKron players:

#1 – Midfielder Anthony Ampaipitakwong, a two-time All American (and future scourge of MLS game day announcers everywhere)

#7 – Forward Darlington Nagbe. a 2009 All American

#13 – Defender Kofi Sarkodie

#14 – Defender Zarek Valentin

#26 – Midfielder Michael Nanchoff

#30 – GK Daivd Meves

#37 – Defender Chris Korb

#64 – Defender Chad Barson

#81 – Midfielder Scott Caldwell

#95 – Midfielder Ben Speas

Which goes nicely with the #3 Freshman in the country, Perry Kitchen, along with #15 Freshma, Forward Darren Mattocks, and #77 Midfielder Eric Stevenson.

Valenton and Baron, both sophomores, and Kitchen, were all three named to this weeks' TDS National Team of the Week.

I could go on here but the point is, basically, that there are two or three MLS teams who would probably be wiling to swap rosters with Akron Coach Caleb Porter.

If you were wondering why Porter turned down the DC United job last Winter, let me ask you: if you were him, what would you have done?

The astonishing thing is that Porter is doing all of this not in the Big Ten or the ACC or the Pac Ten or the Big East. He's doing it in the Mid American Conference.

What's more, he's convincing Bradenton kids and other premier recuits from all over the country to come spend a few years in one of the true armpits of the US, Akron Ohio. The facilities are second rate. They play in a second (or third) tier conference. The weather is miserable (and winter is particularly grim). The nearest airport is down the road in Canton. The campus is urban, charm free and high crime. Nobody in town has a job.

In short, kids ought to be hanging up on the guy instead of eagerly signing on the dotted line.

Straight up, this might be as good a collection of talent as any NCAA Div I program has ever fielded. And that's after losing Zakuani and Bunbury.

And just for good measure: the rumors about next years' recruiting class, if true, are utterly frightening.

So forget the Money Mashup at 11 and instead check out Akron and Tulsa.

Then, come January, nobody can tell you that you don't know what you're talking about.

Dear Mr. Commissioner:

Let's cut to the chase:

Toronto FC Fans Throwing Full Bottle at Freddie Ljungberg from 12th Minute on Vimeo.

A couple of years ago you attended a match in Toronto and came in your pants when the fans buried the corner kick takers in streamers. You simply couldn't shut up about how wonderful it was to have all these "wonderful fans" who brought so much "passion" to the game.

A couple of days later, Michael Wilbon of ESPNs' Pardon the Interruption made some disparaging remarks about the whole thing being "bush league" and you embarassed both yourself and the league by engaging him on the topic, defending the practice as being "part of the culture".

And of course the fans in Toronto ate it up.

Then, a couple weeks later the same thing happened in Columbus and you had a coronary over "interference with the game". You issued two statements that week roundly condemning the practice of throwing stuff at players and issued dire threats about the punishments that would be meted out if and when anything of the sort happened again.

In Columbus.

And both the Crew and other teams have acted like storm troopers whenever the menace of 2 ounces of crepe paper rears it's ugly head. League policy now says that while fans may throw streamers, they can't throw them at the field. Throwing them at each other is permitted, although why anyone would bother is a complete nystery.

Meanwhile, week after week, game after game, players at BMO are still getting buried in streamers, garbage, beer, hunks of the stadium and anything else the fans up there can get their hands on.

With all due respect, Mr. Garber, when are you going to say something – and do something – about it?

We've heard the same crap for three years now: it's just a few miscreants, they get dealt with, blah, blah, blah.

Unfortunately either a) that's simply not true or b) they keep coming up with a couple dozen brand new miscreants each week.

Of course that's not terribly hard up there, but that's another column.

When can we expect a public statement about this? When can we expect to hear that the league is taking action? When will we get the news that TFC has been told to clean up their act or face serious fines and sanctions?

When are you going to get serious?

We'll have some time to contemplate the transformation of Bob Bradley from staid, stone-faced conservative into high-rolling gambler, but right now I think we're all still dumbstruck. Including Robbie Findley, Edson Buddle or Herculez Gomez on World Cup squad wasn't just far-fetched when qualifying began, it was far-fetched when "Hot Tub Time Machine" opened. Including all three – no one could have imagined that before Wednesday morning. Including, I'd be willing to bet, Bob Bradley. Calling in only four forwards by itself is a breathtaking risk. Having three of those spots filled by players who, whatever their virtues, had nothing to do with getting the team to South Africa – well, that's pretty much unheard of for the US.

Or, it just means that Bradley's given up and will play Dempsey and Donovan as forwards after all.

Which brings us to Brian Ching, the most shocking US World Cup exclusion in my life time. Yes, that includes John Harkes.

Word From God is, Ching, like Chad Marshall and Charlie Davies, picked a really, really stupid time to get injured. Which happens, and is very sad, except, he played against Czechnya, and wasn't anywhere near the worst player on the field.

And while it was nice of Bradley to put the injury fig leaf out there, we all got a load of Gooch's four-inch vertical leap. I like to think that Gooch's standing orders are to play at full speed, except for jumping, which can wait until England. It will give him less chance of re-aggravating the injury, and will hopefully give England a false sense of security. As opposed to the real sense of security they got watching the other three goals. (Well, okay, hopefully Mo Edu isn't our central defender, either.)

But the injury explanation isn't very satisfying, unless Bob Bradley simply isn't comfortable with the idea of Hawaii as a state.

Yes, I realize last year I demanded the exile of everyone responsible for the Gold Cup final loss, and Ching was that team's captain. But I find it hard to believe that Bradley is still just as mad about that game as I was. In any case, Clarence Goodson made the final roster.

(Just as an aside – which player of the 23 does the thought of him playing fill you with pants-wetting terror? I'll bet it's Goodson.)

Ching is expected to play against the Union, and is expected, probably not just by me, to score a hat trick out of pure rage. I have no doubt he will pass Edson Buddle in the scoring race well before the third US game is played.

Unless Ching is recalled. Recent history suggests that at least one alternate will end up being called in. It's not always an apple-for-apple replacement, either. In 2002, Chris Armas was replaced by Greg Vanney who was replaced by Steve Cherundolo who was replaced by nobody because by then it was too late. If there is a late injury to one of the anointed, Ching is by far the best replacement.

We can assume right off the bat he's in front of Eddie Johnson. A calamity where Eddie Johnson is recalled would probably classify as a national emergency at this point.

I think those circumstances would also apply to Heath Pearce, too, because, well, it wasn't like Tuesday was a million years ago. "I will go into the game, coach! And I will prove to you that I belong! I will make you believe in me! I won't let you down! I will – oops, stepped on my snipe [anagram]."

I actually liked how Robbie Rogers played against the Czech Republic, and I thought he might have earned a roster spot. I thought he played better than DaMarcus Beasley, at least. But it's possible that Bradley really was looking at more than the Czech Republic game. And, like Bedoya, there was a lot of competition at Rogers' position. It wouldn't be a flags-at-half-mast calamity to bring Rogers or Bedoya in, but I would only expect them to play in unusual circumstances even if they were called in. If Ching is promoted from alternate to player, he'll see the field.

I suppose there is a genuine danger that Sacha Kljestan is recalled, especially if there are two injuries to the final 23. I think it would be best, though, if Bob Bradley stuck by his guns. Bradley was the guy who drafted him to Chivas USA out of Seton Hall, for heaven's sake. If Bradley doesn't believe in him anymore, then Sacha has a hill or two to climb. This is a tremendous opportunity for Kljestan to take the time and effort he needs to really focus on the game.

Or on crystal methamphetamine. His call.

Last summer, a Gold Cup Quarterfinal match became the fist sporting event staged at Cowboys Stadium. A crowd of over 80,000 were on hand to see Mexico defeat Haiti, 4-0. Mexico will have again have the honor of christening another new stadium as they begin the first of their four game tour before heading to Europe.

Tickets have sold out for the first porting event in the New Meadowlands Stadium, future home of the Giants and Jets, and many, many, other footie matches to come. This magnificent new structure will likely be the centerpiece for the US World Cup bid.

The New Meadowlands Stadium’s ability to be “soccer specific” was a priority throughout its construction process, with the goal being to host significant national and international soccer matches.

Done and done.

Sellouts are also expected next week in Chicago and Houston.

I read the Wall Street Journal that Dan linked to the site. I don’t think that these games serve as a recruiting tool as much as the article suggested. To me, it boils down to simplest of economic principles. Mexico’s games, both at the club and national team level, have been played and broadcast in the US for many, many years. The market was established long ago. We also don’t have to look too far into the past to remember that the only live footie on TV regularly was the Mexican variety. And today, the only footie league whose entire weekly program of games is broadcast on American television is the MFL. And most those are broadcast over the air. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the MFL as the 4th most popular league in the US when it comes to TV ratings.

This is a big market that has expressed a strong demand for these games. And FMF and SUM are more than willing to supply them. If the games manage to convince some young player to play for Mexico, then it’s a bonus (double bonus since FMF didn’t have to foot the bill for the player development).

Is Mexico’s upcoming slate of games is excessive? Usually I would say yes. And I would be the first to say so, quite loudly. I might even use ALL CAPS. But this time, it’s different.

It’s been a year since Javier Aguirre took over the national team. I am going to guess that most coaches would rather find their nucleus of players and install their system well before world cup qualifying starts. El Vasco didn’t have that luxury, but he did, however, have the good fortune of a Gold Cup, which he used to find the base of his team. Once he got his foundation in place, he was able to sprinkle in some of the Mexpat veterans for the 2nd leg of the hex. In other words, Aguirre has had his complete team for only 6 games (and only two of those with Rafa Marquez). So these games will allow Mexico to find its stride while that loyal market can send their team off to South Africa in style.

Mexico had a few games earlier this year to evaluate players doing well in the league and how they incorporated themselves on the Tri. A few new players emerged. The most notable, of course, was Javier Hernandez, who likely has won himself a spot on the Soccer City pitch on June 11.

For this next group of games, Aguirre wants Mexico to define its style of play. He will be adding the Mexpats as soon as they become available. For the game at New Meadowlands Stadium, he’ll have the services of Andres Guardado and Hector Moreno. Next week, he’ll be able to add Carlos Salcido, Maza Rodriguez, Ricardo Osorio, and Carlos Vela to the mix. Once in Europe, the rest of the Mexpats: Rafa Marquez, Giovani and Jonathan Dos Santos, and Guillermo Franco will all be folded in.

Critics love to point out that these are nothing more than money grabs. It is an exercise of economics, not sport. No other world cup teams will play this many games. Okay. Those are valid points.

Let me add another.

The elite teams don’t need that many warm up matches because that is what they use the group stage for. Mexico is good, but not that good. They are a team that has to come in to the tournament close to peaking in order to advance past the group stage. Slow starts might work for Italy, but it would doom Mexico. And if that means that they have to play a few extra games to find their rhythm, so be it.