This was fun to read through. One thing I forgot to mention last night was a parallel I noticed between some of the current young players getting into Mexico's heads the way Landon Donovan always did. For LD he spoke fluent Spanish so he was always chirping at them in their own language while he always seemed to get the last laugh on the pitch too. These guys give Mexico a little bit of the nasty back and the fact that the taunts and shenanigans don't intimidate the kids gets into their heads.
What really elevated the U.S. rivalry with Mexico was a Yanks side who could compete with them, even at Azteca, and a poster boy for them to hate. I think the rivalry is back now. We can clearly compete now A team versus A team, but I think last night changed the tide of psychological superiority too. The kids won, but they all know they have the ability to play WAY better. They won anyway, though, so that gives them tons of confidence. On the flip side, Mexico knows the Yanks didn't play as well as they could, that they're still very young and only going to get better, and that there's no backing down from a challenge in this group. Next time these teams meet Mexico will be the ones coming in with the phycological uncertainty. I hope things stay that way for the next decade. These kids are fun to watch and most haven't even hit the primes of their careers.
I'm going to rewatch the game when I get home tonight. My boys were in bed before I started it and they need to get baptized into the rivalry.
https://www.goal.com/en-us/news/usmnt-embrace-chaos-mexico-nations-league/1ci59ghadpct61iz9ynigduj8k
