Lately, though, there's been a new team threatening the Bills perch - the U.S. men's national soccer team. Over the past few years, I've started to follow them religiously. During the qualifying run-up for the 2010 World Cup, I didn't miss a game. In fact, I got so into it that I decided that we're going to name our next dog "Concacaf." During the World Cup itself, my scream after Landon Donovan's stoppage time goal against Algeria was louder than any cheer the Bills ever got from me. And, we've never taken the kids to a bar to watch a Bills game but there we were last summer watching the U.S. - Ghana game at Nottingham's.
Last night, the U.S. played the Gold Cup final against Mexico in a sold-out Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. Unfortunately, Mexico won 4-2. Here are my post-game thoughts:
- The better team won.
- I didn't realize that Pasadena was a suburb of Mexico City. Of the 93,000 spectators in attendance, it seemed like 85,000 were wearing the red, white, and green of Mexico. Maybe that's why the entire post-game ceremony was conducted in Spanish.
- Welcome back, Freddy Adu. I thought he was the best U.S. player on the field even though he still has a tendency to hold the ball too long at times.
- Speaking of Freddy, why is that so many of our best players (Adu, Steve Cherundolo, and Landon Donovan) are only 5'7" -- and balding?
- I wonder if Carlos Bocanegra would be flattered or freaked out to know that Nick now has his haircut.
- I bad-mouthed Jonathan Bornstein all night after he came in to the game following Cherundolo's injury. I guess I wasn't alone. ESPN's post-game player grades summed up Bornstein's play by giving him a 2 (on a scale of 1 to 10) and commenting briefly and succintly as follows: Bornstein was dreadful, failing at all his defensive tasks. That says it all, doesn't it?
