Is frequency watering down the USA-Mexico rivalry?

There was a sense of togetherness in San Antonio for USMNT vs Mexico
Photo: Erik Guzman

A match is always in trouble when the quality of the pitch overshadows the actual quality of play on the pitch. On Wednesday night the U.S.A. took on Mexico in front of a sell-out crowd at the Alamodome in San Antonio. The match for weeks was advertised as a rivalry match, drawing upon the fierce history between the two. But if there was one thing that was proven on Wednesday night it is that the Mexico-USA rivalry might have lost a bit of its luster.

While one could just put this 2-0 victory alongside the other “Dos A Cero” results for the USA that would discredit the importance of those matches. Of the previous eight 2-0 victories for the USA over Mexico, five occurred during either the World Cup, World Cup Qualification, or the Gold Cup.

It is very hard to manufacture emotion and intensity. Was Jordan Morris excited about scoring his first goal for the USA? Certainly (By the way, Stanford kids, he better not pay for a beer at the local college bar). But did it have the same excitement and importance as any of the other eight games? No.

Even Bill Clinton made an appearance!

That, in essence, is why it is difficult to put this particular match on the same level of those previous games. While US Soccer, the Mexican Football Association, and their various television sponsors covered this match like it was life or death, the rosters that were submitted indicated that it was a glorified training exercise.

It is does not help that both sides were not playing at full strength. Since this match did not fall on a date where clubs are obligated to release their players, both sides were mostly made up players from the USA/Mexico.

That may not have been an issue for the USA, whose normal national team is mostly made up of domestic players. But Mexico brought a side where just five of their twenty man roster had more than ten appearances.

If one was looking at this match as just a training exercise or a chance to see how each team is developing towards their summer tournaments, then that is fine. Both Morris and Juan Agudelo certainly helped their cases for being called-up for the Gold Cup. As did Mexican midfielder Luis Montes, who had exceptional game on the outside and delivered several opportunities into the box for El Tri. One can be critical of the circumstances surrounding a match and also say at the same time that the players themselves did everything that they could to put on a quality match.

We also learned something else very important in this match: that San Antonio is not ready to have a Major League Soccer team. To say that the conditions on the pitch were poor would be an understatement. It is very hard to take a match seriously when several goal-scoring opportunities for both teams were averted because players were slipping. Falling on a pitch is acceptable when it occurs because of mother nature and is tolerable if it occurs in a country that cannot afford state of the art sod. However, when it occurs in a city that desperately wants a top-flight club team it raises a host of questions as to the veracity of their bid.

That is not to say that every USA-Mexico match needs to be under the best conditions, with a state of the park, and have great bells and whistles. But the whole experience of Wednesday night cheapened what has come to pass as one of the top rivalries in soccer.

Can it regain that edge? Certainly. But if the Football Associations and their sponsors continue to push a watered-down version of the rivalry then in time supporters will lose interest.