Once More Into the Ring

Ahead of the big "friendly" USA-Mexico game today, Luis Hernandez has a new commercial for Wells Fargo similar to the Landon Donovan one. It's to introduce a banking app in Spanish. 

Like Donovan's, the scenario is a coach handing out jerseys to players, and Hernandez, as the new addition, uses his banking app to send in his payment quickly. But a crucial difference (as well as a tip of the hat to the Mexican fan loyalty in the rivalry) is that as soon as Hernandez pulls the jersey over his head, his hair magically grows into the long tresses he once sported, complete with a headband. Everyone on his team recognizes him and celebrates having a legend on their team. 

Hernandez then runs to the field in triumph, despite never actually having touched the ball yet. "El Matador" was indeed a Mexico icon. While his Galaxy career wasn't spectacular and he lost to LD and the USA in 2002 in the World Cup, he gets the last laugh here.

LD on Mexico

Landon Donovan 
(leftover quotes from when I spoke to him before his final international game)

Assuming you don’t score against Ecuador, goals against Mexico will bookend your international career. 

Yeah, that's a good story.

Could you speak on that - and also, were you watching when Mexico was on the brink of elimination from the World Cup last year? What were you thinking at that time?

One of my first internationals with the under-17s was against Mexico, so obviously, they’ve been a big part of my career, ups and downs. What I’ve learned is that they’ve helped us so much. Even though there’s been some animosity and negativity around it, without them, soccer here doesn’t grow the same way. 
While a lot of people were probably excited at the prospect of them not making the World Cup, I was not rooting for that. I wanted them to be there. It’s important that they’re there. It’s important that they represent this region, because they’re a good team and they show it every time they play in the World Cup. I’ve had some rough times in games against them throughout my career, but in the end, when I look back, I have so much respect for everything that’s been a part of the rivalry.

Was the biggest down against them when they eliminated the US from the Olympics, or a Gold Cup final?

The biggest down on the field was probably that Olympic qualifying 4-0 loss, yes. Off the field, just dealing with stupid comments that I wish I hadn’t said when I was younger. That kind of stuff brought me a lot of grief from people. I’ve learned from that. But there’s been a lot of very exciting games and we need that rivalry. We need that to continue and I think that’s good for everybody.

Liga MX Roundup, March 17

Here's my roundup on the latest round of Liga MX games. 

Marco Fabian has gone a long way to answer his critics, but he has yet to earn Miguel Herrera's confidence. 

So, should Marco Fabian be called in for the USA-Mexico game?

Why or why not?

Klinsmann's Debut: Initial Reactions

Jurgen Klinsmann's US debut came and went and left behind a night-and-day performance and a 1-1 draw against Mexico.

So what can we conclude about the match? Well, I'm not one to draw major conclusions from a friendly, but since this wasn't just any other friendly, here are some things that jumped out at me.

* Brek Shea is good: Yes, the FC Dallas star is a pretty good player. I'd vote him as my MLS Most Valuable Player right now, and he continued his stellar game-changing performances against Mexico. Shea created the game-tying goal by finding space to slip a ball across the goal mouth to Robbie Rogers. Shea's play with FC Dallas has been screaming national team inclusion, and his play off the bench should help him gain a stronger foothold on the squad.

* Midfield madness: So many players saw time in the middle of the field on Wednesday. It was a good thing, don't get me wrong. It's just kind of difficult to digest all of them. For me, it was nice to see Jose Torres play as long as he did and also nice that both him and Shea were on the field at the same time. With Torres and Landon Donovan and Shea knocking the ball around to one another, there is potential there to create some offense and break down opposing defenses. Torres did better when Shea came in as he was allowed to play more centrally. It looks as if Torres could become a key figure in the middle of the field.

* Forward's struggles: Edson Buddle did well to knock bodies around but was unable to receive the ball too much. His replacement, Juan Agudelo, had some touches - some of them good - but had poor decision-making and was a hindrance more than anything. The forwards did not really perform well at all, but perhaps that was a difficult thing to ask considering how the team played overall in terms of where the buildup came from. Perhaps it would be best to play Clint Dempsey up top alone as his scrappy type of play may have come in handy on the field Wednesday.

* Solid D: Michael Orozco may not have been a first choice of many to start but Orozco did not look out of his league in the match. Quite the contrary, he more than held his own against Mexico. How much that has to do with his own ability and how much that has to do with the fact that he's seen most of those guys in league play is uncertain but what is for sure is that he is now in the mix to gain playing time in upcoming matches.

* Change is good: Change truly was a good thing for this team. There are a lot of areas that need addressing still and definitely some rough edges but that need softening but Klinsmann has had all of three days to work with the team and already it looked much different than the U.S. has looked in a while. It looked as if the U.S. players were ready to run themselves into the ground if need be. Donovan on one play showed some great determination when he darted around a defender on the left side of the penalty area and raced in towards the goal only to be knocked down and not receive a penalty in his favor. It may or may not have been a foul but Donovan sure did not look tired or winded while racing around the corner. And neither did any US players for that matter. There was a lot more energy and desire on the field tonight than there has been for a while.

What stood out for you the most?

Klinsmann Era Gets Underway

Jurgen Klinsmann will begin his USMNT coaching career with a game against Mexico tonight in Philadelphia.

While the result won't mean a whole heck of a lot, some (many?) fans and media are taking this game rather seriously. Of course, it's a game no US supporter wants to lose. It doesn't matter if it's a friendly, a qualifier, a game on FIFA 11.... probably no US fan wants to lose to Mexico under any circumstances.

Before I get into the heart of this post, I think that sometimes it's necessary to go back in order to move forward. A bad loss here may not necessarily mean the ship is sinking or that the US is really in a tailspin. In fact, I wrote a story about the virtue of patience, at least Bruce Arena is preaching patience.

Anyway, it's perhaps interesting to look at how Arena progressed while looking at his matches against Mexico and the idea of patience. Remember, when Arena took over in 1998, the US team was in shambles after a terrible showing at the World Cup in France, highlighted (or perhaps low-lighted?) by player bickering and a bit of a revolt against then-coach Steve Sampson.

Arena was perhaps then under no immediate pressure - at least not more than usual - and had time to build the squad. There was patience.

His first match against Mexico went badly. Mexico beat the U.S. by 2-1 in San Diego at the USA Cup 99 in March of that year. In August, the US lost to Mexico in Estadio Azteca by 1-0 in extra time in a Confederations Cup semifinal (to this day, I will argue that that was the best chance the US has had of beating Mexico in Azteca, but we'll save that debate for another day).

Things started to slowly change in the United States' fortunes after that. A makeshift Mexico squad lost by 3-0 in USA Cup 2000 in June of that year. But in October, the tide really shifted towards the US in the border skirmish rivalry. Landon Donovan debuted with a goal in a US win over Mexico, by 2-0 in October at the LA Coliseum.

In February 2001, the US beat Mexico by 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier but lost to El Tri in Azteca in July by 1-0. A 1-0 friendly win in Denver preceded a World Cup Round of 16 matchup in 2002, won by the US and helping the squad reach the quarterfinals of the World Cup.

Patience then saw Arena guide the team not only to repeated success against Mexico but more importantly to the deepest stage the US had reached in the World Cup since 1930.

It took some early losses and early setbacks against Mexico but to help propel the US forward. And the Klinsmann era might also start with some setbacks against Mexico. Or it could be like Bob Bradley's first match against Mexico, a surprising (or was it?) 2-0 win over Mexico in Arizona in February 2007.

Either way, Klinsmann will get tossed into the fray with the United States' biggest regional rival. It's a measuring stick that will let Klinsmann know right away where the US stands on several levels.

Gold Cup Final Is Finally Here

Gold Cup final day today. A sold-out Rose Bowl will be sight of the latest US-Mexico encounter.

Don't think any of us are surprised we're here as the two best teams have reached the final - the paths were paved towards such a meeting.

Anyway, now that the match is here I can focus on the game and, well, it's tough to see the U.S. winning. Mexico has been playing strong during this tournament while the U.S. hasn't. Based on form, Mexico has the advantage.

But we've seen the U.S. respond to similar situations against Mexico, and American players are always confident in their abilities to beat Mexico.

Now, this will also be the first Gold Cup final in Southern California since 2002. Used to be that all the finals were out here as the Coliseum played host to the Gold Cup finals in 1991, 1996, 1998 and 2000, with the Rose Bowl hosting the 2002 final. Since then, it's been in Mexico City, New York (twice) and Chicago. And this will also be the first US-Mexico game in Southern California since October 2000, when Landon Donovan debuted with a goal in a 2-0 US victory.

Anyway, don't really have a whole lot of insight at this late hour but we'll be sure and bring you a lot of coverage during and after the match right here.

The Junior Clasico

A Texas tussle between Mexico and the U.S. saw as many red cards as goals.
The U.S. wins in traditional style, a set piece goal to break things open, then taking their chances as Mexico unravels while chasing the game.

Who said this? Dos

We didn't play our best and Mexico played well. All that said, we still tied. I think Jozy played well. He wasn't perfect, though. I'm getting more comfortable out there (his playing position). I had more time there this past month.

Who said this?

I liked Mexico. I thought they played better than the U.S. They’ve played well against the U.S. before, but the U.S. is a team that is always organized and never makes mistakes, while Mexico gets distracted and commits errors. That’s when the U.S. does its damage. In this game, the U.S. had the advantage. They went ahead twice, but Mexico was able to respond and tie the game. It surprised me that Mexico scored on set pieces, because the U.S. has tall players, but Mexico had several good plays. I think the players were satisfied with their effort, because they gave a good effort. But the U.S. retains a certain dominance, because in the end, we weren’t able to win. I hope in the next match, the team will triumph. In Mexico, there’s great pressure for us to win versus the U.S.

The Jalisco Incident

Yep, Luis posts important videos from competitions. While I find this stuff.

A word of advice to fans coming to Galaxy or Chivas USA training. Avoid the bushes or the cement walls around the training fields.

Photos

Mediotiempo has pretty pictures.

Laughing last

The U.S. went ahead, but Mexico pulled back each time. Here's one viewpoint where the joke is both on Landon Donovan and Hugo Sanchez.

The little Mexican mascot says, "Well, at least we shut Donovan up." The second one says, "Unfortunately, now this guy won't shut up."

When next they meet

The United States and Mexico might not play again this year. With World Cup qualifying taking up a chunk of the fall, and other friendlies against other opponents slated for the spring and early summer, it's doubtful the U.S. and Mexico would line up another friendly in 2008. Of course, I can't rule anything out because they seem eager to meet these days, and by "they" I mean the respective federations.

But there will be two U.S.-Mexico games in 2009. Barring an unforeseen and improbable collapse in the semifinal World Cup qualifying phase, the U.S. and Mexico will meet twice in the CONCACAF hexagonal. One game will probably be in Estadio Azteca and the other game will probably be at Columbus Crew Stadium. History would suggest as much.

Now, the draw for the final phase won't be held until the end of this year or early next year, but we already know the dates for all the hexagonal matches. I'm calling my shot right now and expect for the U.S. and Mexico to meet again in March and September, much like they did in 2005. The first matchday is on Feb. 11, but that seems way too soon to have them meet. Plus, it's in the middle of the week and it seems more likely that the first game would be on a weekend. Now, in 2001 the first US-Mexico game was in the middle of the week, but I can't see that happening again.

Much could change between last night's game and the next match. Some players will develop, others will fall off the picture and still others will cement their status as starters. Regardless, the match should have more anticipation and buildup than yesterday's did, as it will be a World Cup qualifier.

For now, CONCACAF's two best sides will be busy with other regional rivals, but 2009 will hold a pair of these rivalry matches so start saving your dollars now if you want to go.

Media reports

Some stories from last night's match.

Grahame Jones of the LA Times writes about Jozy Altidore and his beauty of a goal.

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports also penned his column on the young Red Bull star, and lets us know what Altidore said to Rafael Marquez to draw a smile from the Mexican defender.

The Houston Chronicle provides quite a bit of coverage on the match, which drew 70,103. Bernardo Fallas provides the match report while they also provide a photo gallery as well as a short video with interviews of players and fans. Not sure why they only talked to Stuart Holden (who didn't play) and Rico Clark but it's worth a watch.

And here's SI.com colleague Grant Wahl's take on the match.

And here's Jaime's match report from the Argentina-Guatemala contest. The game drew around 35,000 which is a lot more than I'd expected. I wasn't there, but I'm guessing the crowd didn't seem as big, as the Coliseum holds around 95,000 or so. Had the match been at HDC, it would have been a sellout and the stadium would have had a great atmosphere, more than (I'm guessing) there was at the game last night. Oh well.

Post-game

First off, thanks to Andrea for a great running blog.

The result, of course, was 2-2. Not sure if the U.S. deserved the win but ultimately I too felt it was a pretty fair result. Mexico had the majority of possession and the U.S. barely had enough energy to finish the game. Their possession was non existent the last 15-20 minutes, really.

As far as the U.S. goes, I think there were more negatives than positives. Ramiro Corrales and Drew Moor had a collectively terrible game, and upped the stock of Jonathan Bornstein and Steve Cherundolo, respectively. Corrales was shaky with the ball and was lost at times while Moor was downright ineffective on the set pieces. Moor did serve a nice ball to Altidore, however, but his defensive shortcomings were not canceled out on that one play.

Landon Donovan was nowhere to be found. I don't remember him doing anything worthwhile the last 60 minutes or so. Clint Dempsey was ineffective as well. However, I'm still waiting to see a replay of his goal to see if it was really offside. Michael Bradley was also ineffective.

Oguchi Onyewu showed his downside as well, giving up fouls outside the box. He's still a good central defender but isn't the pillar of strength Carlos Bocanegra is.

Tim Howard showed why he's the number one goalkeeper. His diving, twisting save on Fernando Arce's shot was class.

As far as Mexico goes, Guillermo Ochoa is still young. I'd fault him for the first goal, as he wildly came off his line and was in bad position overall on Onyewu's goal. He couldn't do a damned thing on Altidore's goal so that one's not his fault.

Pavel Pardo upped his own stock. His set piece ability is still there, but I'm not sure I like him paired with Gerarod Torrado in the middle of the field.

Adolfo Bautista also breathed life into his own national team future. He was a beast out there.

Jonny Magallon is the defensive revelation under Hugo Sanchez. Obviously, he's not a goal scorer but his ability on set pieces showed.

Mexico had plenty of possession but again slipped into their previous mode of relying on set pieces for offense. Mexico had often relied heavily on corner kicks and free kicks instead of mounting attacks and scoring in the run of play. Part of that was Tim Howard, as he made some good saves, but Mexico should have created more chances and scored at least once in the run of play.

Overall, the match was entertaining and lived up to the hype, though the U.S. could have shown better for itself. And now the series has its first draw since 2003, and the first 2-2 draw since 1997. Four goals is the most that have been scored between the two teams since the aforementioned match, a World Cup qualifier played in Foxboro, Mass.

U.S. Mexico running blog

Anthems. The Mexican fans in the stadium sing along. Now it's the U.S. - I hear a few fiesty voices singing.

--------Altidore-----Dempsey-----------
Convey---------------------------Donovan
------------Bradley----Clark-----------------

Corrales------------------------------Moor
----------Bocanegra---Onyewu------------
-----------------Howard-------------------
BENCH- Guzan, Parkhurst, Edu, Feilhaber, Lewis, Adu, Noonan

Mexico
-------------Bautista----De Nigris-----------
Vela--------Pardo-----Torrado---------Arce
Castro------Marquez--Magallon----Salcido
------------------Ochoa----------------------
BENCH- Michel, Rojas, Pinto, Cacho, Dos Santos, Naelson, Villaluz

I'm happy to see Vela and Altidore start. Hope to see Gio and Freddy before this finishes.

I'm also watching Univision, so if the U.S. commentators say anything lame, I won't know it. Right now, the Spanish announcers are calling the teams "the eternal rivals". Huh, I don't think eternal counts the 50 years or so Mexico racked up tons of wins.

Kickoff.

2- Ricardo Clark from long-range. Ugh. He took too long for that shot, and the rebound fell to Mexico.

4- Bofo with a chance, or would have had he been able to reach the ball, Gooch, shoulders him off.

6- Mexico is drawing fouls, the U.S. lack rhythm.
Mexico tries to build an attack - ball is out for a goal kick.

8- Castro breaks up a good US attack taking the ball off the foot of Convey.

9- They're making fun of Landon's shoes on the freekick. Donovan then lays the ball off for Dempsey, but his shot bounces out to Vela for a counter. The defense manages to scramble back and cover.

11- The U.S. is breaking up the Mexico attack, but not generating any of its own.

13- The announcers are discussing Rafa Marquez. Apparently he's more mature and composed these days. Clint with a tricky, scrappy play. The announcers get confused and call him Convey.

14- Rico with a nice attack, but loses the ball on the cross.

15- In honor of Taylor Twelman, who strained his groin and can't play, Vela is wearing his jersey kinda tight.

16- Jozy runs over Rafa Marquez. He's such a big kid. A great threat up top. The foul negates the breakaway.

17- Long ball over the top for De Nigres. Bocanegra is defending and Tim Howard cleans him out making the grab. Ouch.

20- Ramiro Corrales fouls Bofo - FK about ten yards from the box. Chance for Mexico. Howard was pissed - the wall of Rico and Jozy didn't move for the longest time, though he was yelling at them. The crowd noise might have drowned him out.

22- Nice shot from near the top of the box - Salcido, but Howard saves. De Nigris takes a shot soon after, slips his defender and shoots, but another save by Howard.

24- Vela slips in, gets the ball right in front of goal to Bofo, who tries a cheeky backheel shot that rebounds from Bocanegra to DeNigris, who shoots, hits a defender and the ball goes over the goal. Corner for Mexico. Cleared.

25- No one in the middle of the field is holding the ball for the U.S. Mexico is running the game right now.

27- From a Donovan free throw, Dempsey (I think) takes a shot from a tough angle. Memo saves with confidence.

28 Donovan sends a pass in that Jozy strains his head, but can't quite reach. Corner for U.S. Cleared.

29- GOAL! FT taken by Gooch. He heaves it toward Jozy, but the ball bounces out to Landon, he turns and serves it high back into the box, where Gooch arrives to send a looping header into the goal off the post. Memo didn't have a chance there.

32- Vela into the box before he gets stoped and rolls around for a while. The U.S. counter fizzles.

34- GOAL! Another off a set piece. Corrales gets called for another foul outside the box. Pardo serves a good ball and Jonny Magallon beats his defender, Drew Moor, to the shot, sending it to the roof of the net.

This is like watching the primaries last night. Tit for tat. Round by round.

38- Fernando Arce with a shot after good buildup by Mexico. Howard saves well, full stretch.

40- The action is fierce. Houston is getting compensated in spades for that scoreless match years ago, even if the game remains tied. Mexico is laying seige on Howard's goal. Finally cleared for a counter.

GOAL! Convey passes to Drew Moor, who crosses the ball in and Jozy levitates, heck, he nearly clears out his own teammate, Dempsey, going for the ball. He heads it in past a helpless Memo.

2-1

41- Arce with a shot, Howard full stretch saves.

42- Dempsey! But the goal is waved off, the flag is up.

43- Corrales gives up another FK in the same spot. Howard catches, but I'd bet he's unhappy about those fouls.

45+- Jozy with a sweet turn on the right, but not much of a cross. Just before the whistle, Michael gets called for a foul - drawing yellow.

The Univision reporter is struggling - no one on the Mexican team wants to talk to him.

Halftime - Republica Deportivo's Fernando Fiore is talking about what a great game this is.

Hugo Sanchez isn't making any changes - he says his team is playing well.

2nd Half

46- Like they did in the first half, Mexico comes on on fire early, advancing the ball. Vela takes a shot from near the top of the box. It's wide, though.

47- GOAL! Another attack from Mexico leads to a corner, even as it looks like Bofa put his hand on the ball. The corner is served in and deja-vu. Moor lets Magallon through and he sidefoots it into the goal.

50- I just switched to the ESPN broadcast and the emotion and excitement of the game dropped by 88 percent.

52- Howard catches a long cross, though De Nigris tries to rattle him.

53 - Donovan in the corner, lays the ball back for Moor to cross, Altidore elevates, and it's wide.

54- Howard and De Nigris tangle up, and shove each other. Either the ref doesn't see it, or he lets it go because both players got hits in.

56- Arce with a shot gets Howard diving, but it's wide.

58- De Nigris is providing Mexico with some muscle. He just shoved Gooch, and not a lot of players do that.

60- Bradley with a poor pass, though he wasn't under pressure. Bautista takes advantage, and when Clark comes to help Bradley out, he eludes them, draws a foul. Good place for a FK.
Howard saves it well, though.

62- Vela and Bautista hook up well in the box, but the shot is deflected. Mexico corner. Cleared out.

63- Dempsey and Bradley are out, Freddy and Feilhaber are in.

65- Jozy with a bit of a chance, but the over-the-top pass is too far out and Memo catches it.

68- De Nigris out, Juan Carlos Cacho in.

70- Onyewu tries to tackle the ball away, break up Mexico possession. He gets rung up for a yellow. Convey out for Eddie Lewis. Dangerous FK for Mexico. Bautista out, Zinha in.

71- Marquez gets the free kick through the wall, but the shot is wide.

72- Gio comes on for Vela.

73- Mexico is holding the ball better than the U.S., working the ball around for their chances.

74- Feilhaber holds ball well, draws KF, leads to Landon earning a corner, Adu takes it - gets cleared.

76- Altidore gets a yellow - he's getting frustrated.

77- Mexico with a good run of possession. The U.S. is chasing almost constantly.

78- Bocanegra, last man back, barely gets to a cross to nod it to Howard.

79- Maurice Edu comes in for Rico

80- Onyewu offsides on the free kick.

82- Corrales having a tough game. Landon has also been quiet, but to be fair, he hasn't had much time on the ball on the right.

84- Lewis was offsides, took a tumble, but looks ok. Arce is down now. Feilhaber hurt his hand.

86- Donovan sends in a free kick, it gets cleared for a throw - Onyewu takes it. Lots of scrappy play in the midfield. Arce robs Landon on the wing. More Mexico possession leads to a cross floating out over the goal line.

88- Gio with a great run up the right - Corrales with a hard challenge - gets a yellow. Dangerous FK for Mexico.

90- Onyewu clears it, but Mexico keeps possession.

90+ Villaluz gets a few pity minutes from Sanchez. Watch, I say that, and then he'll score. Gio draws another foul. He's such an exciting player. Great to watch.

Speaking of great to watch. Corrales finally gets a pass up to Freddy, who beats two guys to draw a foul outside the box. Donovan serves the ball in, Magallon, the hero of the night, clears the ball for Mexico, and the final whistle blows.

2-2 A fair result. Mexico looked better much of the game, but they got very lucky that Dempsey's goal was called back.

Jonny Magallon is being interviewed on ESPN. That's cool.

Gio's time has come

He'd like to end the U.S. run.



Talk about how important it is for Mexico to have more European players to face the United States, since they have so many players in Europe.
I think it’s important for our team, to have players developing at that level. For Mexico, it’s important to be able to count on quality players. Everybody has been working very hard and I think that’s good for the team.
A big threat from the U.S. is set pieces, don’t you think?
For the little bit I’ve seen, I think Mexico is solid when defending set pieces. In a game, a lot can happen. I do think that for the U.S., a set piece is a weapon that they put into practice during a game. We have to defend well and concentrate throughout the game.
What does Mexico have to do to beat the U.S.?
We need to defend well and worry about our own game. I think we have great players who are in good form. If we concentrate on our work, we’ll do well.
It’s your first US/Mexico game, your first classico with the senior match with the team, and Mexico hasn’t been successful in those lately.
Yes, well, the truth is that that it’s been hard for Mexico, because we should win. It’s a game that for years has been complicated with losses, and now I think it’s a good time to change that.

Jovenes

Much has been made of Mexico's young stars ahead of tonight's game. Giovani Dos Santos and Carlos Vela have been slapped with the can't-miss tag since 2005 while Nery Castillo, Andres Guardado and Guillermo Ochoa have also been handed the task of carrying this team forward.

But I'd also throw Cesar Villaluz into the mix. Villaluz, who was called in to replace Andres Guardado, is quite a talented player who was also on the 2005 Under-17 team. Villaluz isn't in the same class as Gio and Vela in terms of popularity but is quite a talent. He'll be a dangerous player tonight if he gets the call. He's short but very quick and agile and is could be a handful for U.S. defenders.

As it stands, Zinha is the only player on the Mexican roster to have scored a goal against the U.S. And it's no coincidence that the only Mexican to have scored against the U.S. on American soil since 2000 is Guardado, and that the assist came from Castillo.

Here's a story on the youngsters and what Bob Bradley thinks about them, from Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports.

Golden boys on both sides

Mexico's young players are known as the "Golden Generation". Chief among these guys is Barcelona's Gio Dos Santos. There's also Carlos Vela and Cesar Villaluz.

The U.S. has its own trio of young guns, though. Freddy Adu, Jozy Altidore, and Michael Bradley.

I called Thomas Rongen, the U.S. U20 coach who had all these players under his charge at the Youth World Cup this past summer, for his take.

Do you think Freddy and Jozy, in particular, are ready to contribute?

We’ve seen Freddy and Jozy play a big role with the Olympic team, so too some other players who have played well with the Under-20 team, some really exceptional players have moved on to the senior level. I’m pleased to see that Bob has continued to look at younger players and given them an opportunity to be the core group for the next World Cup.

Can you compare them to Gio and Carlos Vela? Any similarities?

They’re a little different. Barcelona plays with three up front. Dos Santos usually plays on one of the two sides. He has a good dribble on the ball. He’s similar to Freddy there. Vela is more of a typical goalscorer. He’s kind of like Jozy there. There are some similarities there. I would like to see how they get utilized by Hugo Sanchez on this team. Systematically, Barcelona plays completely differently than most national teams, so it will be interesting to see if Gio plays up top, if he plays wide, if they are starters or guys that are brought in to increase the pace and represent their country late in games. It will be interesting to see where Sanchez is in terms of where he sees young players, whereas Bob has already done that with Freddy in South Africa.

Does it give Freddy and Jozy an edge - that they've already had senior team experience?

Not necessarily. Experience is big, obviously. It’s important that those players have played with the team to get an understanding of what that level is like, but more so to blend with the group philosophy, both on and off the field. It helps them to fit in, which I think they will. Every time they’ve been challenged on a different level – I think of the Switzerland game - they've learned. They’ll get their number called eventually. It will help them at all levels.

Do Jozy and Freddy understand each other well on the field from their U20 experience?

Yeah. I’d add Michael Bradley to that group – Michael has played with the u20s as well. All three are Bradenton products as well. They’ve played some important youth national team games through the years. Michael is emerging as a proven goalscorer, and could be a provider for Freddy and Jozy as well. If you look at the Brazil game, Freddy had an assist on all of the goals, you hope that that will continue on the next level. But both national teams, they don’t play a lot of games together. These guys come in on Monday and play a game on Wednesday. You’ve got to rely on the player’s understanding of the game in general. At the end of the day, that’s what those guys will use.

Going both ways

In Spanish this time.