Mexico 4 - 2 USA

I don't really have all that much to say about the match. The US scored two goals against the run of play in the first half which were erased by halftime. And although Dempsey hit the crossbar and Bradley had a volley go just wide, the US was just not as good as Mexico.

I could grip a little about the referee. Donovan's yellow card was a foul about 1/3 as bad as a dozen fouls committed by Mexico, and one Mexican player appeared to intentionally kick Freddy Adu in the face, but everyone prefers to see the teams judged on their merits. And it would have taken an extraordinary amount of assistance from the referee to have gotten the US to a point where this appeared to be the case.

So instead of talking about the game, I'm going to talk about the commentary by JP Dellacamera and Kyle Martino on the Fox Soccer Channel. I had found the English-language commentary so awful earlier in the tournament that for several games, I went back and forth to Univisión to watch in Spanish. Of course, the problem with Univisión is that it's Mexican, so they have a natural bias against the US. For the other matches, the bias wasn't too bad because they seemed to want to see a US-Mexico final anyway, but tonight was unbearable, so I returned to the dulcet tones Dellacamera and Martino.

Grievance 1, Dellacamera states the obvious. During the first half of the first knock-out stage game, against Jamaica, Dellacamera mentioned no less than 3 times that should the US lose, they would be out of the tournament. Thanks, JP, I didn't know that. Tonight he expounded on the fact that having a two goal lead gives a team more of an advantage than having a one goal lead. Now his job is to provide the commentary, so he was attempting to go into different areas of the game, which he shouldn't normally, but it was almost understandable in this instance because the color commentary and analysis from Martino was so bad.

Grievance 2, Martino doesn't know how to refer to his own country. The United States requires an article before its use. One cannot say "United States have the ball," nor can one say, "It's been a good run of play for United States." No. Instead, the article "the" is required. "The United States have the ball." "It's been a good run of play for the United States." Basic English grammar should be a requirement for anyone whose job description involves communicating.

Grievance 3, Martino's idiocy and narcissism. In the first half, after the United States scored the second goal, Martino suggested that the Mexican fans who dominated the stadium (I'll get back to that) wouldn't be singing any more "Olé's." The game was less than a half-hour in. It's impossible to suggest that the game is over after thirty minutes. What on earth was he thinking. But his attempt to compensate for the error was even worse. When, during the closing minutes, the Mexicans passed the ball around the field to a renewed chorus of "Olé's," Martino intimated that they were doing so simply because he had said it wouldn't happen. The world doesn't revolve around you, Kyle.

Grievance 4, the constant segments with Brian Dunseth down on the field. I don't know why they ever cut to him in the first place given that half the time the technology to do so doesn't work anyway. On the Univisión broadcast by comparison, they cut to Hugo Sanchez in Cancún for analysis without any problems. Of course, the bigger difference between Hugo Sanchez and Brian Dunseth is that Sanchez actually knows something about soccer. Dunseth frequently doesn't even know a bit of information about what's going on in the game he's watching when they can actually cut to him anyway.

Grievance 5, the utter lack of passion. All three of Dellacamera, Martino, and Dunseth seem to have attended the Lobotomized Patients' Academy for Learned Vapidity. It is the only possible explanation for how they can be so unenthusiastic when the Americans score. Even if you find the elongated "Goooooooooooool" from the Mexican commentators to be a bit much, English announcers get excited when the English national team scores. Spanish commentators get excited when the Spanish national team scores. Why can't American commentators get excited when the US national team scores.

Grievance 6, lack of vocabulary. The only time anyone got excited tonight was when Dos Santos scored a remarkable chip shot to kill the game off. Martino got out a couple of "ridiculous"es, but that was it. It wasn't masterful, artful, exquisite, technically brilliant, sublime, majestic, other-worldly, deft, beautiful, or stunning. It was "ridiculous"... multiple times.

Grievance 7, the Rose Bowl? Pasadena? Really? From the time the game started, the Mexicans had the momentum in part because the crowd was solidly behind them. Given that the game took place in southern California, this isn't really all that surprising. BUT WHY ON EARTH WAS THE GAME BEING PLAYED IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA? The US Soccer Federation has to expect that the final is going to be between the US and Mexico, so for the love of God schedule the game someplace where there are fewer Mexican-Americans. Seattle would be one option. Washington, D.C. would be another. Columbus, Ohio. St. Louis. Foxborough. Even San Francisco. It's a decision made not in the interests of the team, but in the financial well-being of the organization.