U.S. Men's National Team Ties Guatemala 1-1 in World Cup Qualifier

I'd bet practically no one up there in Gringoland knows that. But believe me, tonight more or less everyone in Guatemala does.

(Side note, I'm confused as to how come Blogsy's insisting on highlight "tonight" and "esta noche" as if hyperlinked - I've tried to fix this, but can't figure it out..)

Anyhow, I probably should have gone into Guatemala City, less than an hour away, to give our boys some support tonight. My other American housemates did. The boys, they need it. This is a point too few gringo jingoes appreciate, but our men's national team playing anyone anywhere is almost always a big deal to the locals in that country. Especially in the Muslim or third world, and most especially in Latin America. It's often a type of low grade warfare, that I've never heard reported on in our press.

Here's a clip showing how they have to deploy riot police to protect the U.S. team while entering the stadium, along with some fan shenanigans:



The upshot is that to get any good reporting on our team, it seems you pretty much have to go to the British press for it.

Here's the Guardian on what it's often like for our boys when playing on foreign soil:

Tough Crowd:

Well, as with any time the USA travel for a Central American fixture, it's one of those games that on paper they're expected to win, but which in practice is the sort of game people have in mind when they talk about the "grind" of qualifying.

That "grind" tends to start the minute the team get off the plane. Central American trips by the USMNT tend to be fraught affairs. Previous trips to the region have resulted in a Honduran newspaper printing the floor plan of the US team hotel for the benefit of "fans", a band assembling in the lobby of another hotel, and a previous trip to Guatemala City itself was marked by a local radio station hosting a "promotion", complete with loudspeakers, outside yet another hotel window. These trips have also presumably resulted in around 22 terrible Yelp reviews attached to the hotels in question, shortly thereafter.

And when the US reaches the pitch it's not likely to get much friendlier. The last time these two sides played here in a World Cup Qualifier, in 2008, there were two red cards, seven yellows, and an array of airborne objects that ranged from US players to batteries being thrown at them. The consensus is that the US are likely to be goaded tonight and while Jamaica may be the tougher footballing side they face in this phase of qualifying, this tie may be the sternest test of character.

Klinsmann is fairly phlegmatic at the prospect of what awaits: "It's hostile in Tehran in front of 110,000, it's hostile in Istanbul with 60,000 -- actually you can't even see the field before the game for 10 minutes for all the smoke. It's normal; this is what soccer brings to the table. I think it's just awesome. We are here because we want three points, and we have to take it seriously."


This report, along with a live blogging of the game (which was only available outside of Guatemala on $30 pay per view) can be found here.

The USMNT blog also has some good dirt on the game and historic rivalry.

This match was the second qualifier. The first the USMNT beat Antigua and Barbuda (as in the Caribbean islands, not this my here Guatemalan home, Antigua Guatemala) a sloppy 3-1. The USMNT began playing Guatemala in 1977. "Los Chapines" as they are affectionately called here, won the first four matches ever played, but have never again won since 1988, ever since US Soccer began to be taken more seriously at home. The upshot is that after the game tonight the U.S. is 12-4-6 all time against Guatemala, and 12-0-6 since 1988.

Compare this to Mexico, which leads the U.S. 30-15-12, and has never lost against the USMNT at home, as in not ever.

I decided not to go into the city, and also skipped going to the bar down the street that was showing the game. Probably should have, since I had a tallboy of beer wagered on our guys with Rafael my Guatemalan housefather here. Since it was a tie, the bet is null. I have a long history of betting on the U.S. Men's Team, dating back to a bottle of raki I won on our guys when they played the Turks in Izmir that year, because it's too much fun not to get into it with people when I'm abroad. They could care less about our U.S. sports obsessions, and know nothing about the NBA, NFL or MLB, but soccer gets people excited everywhere..

Excepting at home, of course. Naval gazing ethnocentric self obsession at it's most disappointing, really. If we're going to get all obsessed about grown men playing with balls like schoolchildren, we might as well do it with everyone else, you know? The fact that we have the gall to call our baseball championship the world series when we only invite one foreign team to compete (Toronto) is just pathetic. Why not invite the Japanese, Mexicans, Cubans and Dominicans to field their own teams? Because Boston and New York might lose to the Dominican Republic or Tokyo is how come.

So anyway, while I sat the game out here tonight in my room, I can still report that I could hear at least three televisions carrying the game from within say 100' of my window.

And that when Guatemala scored their goal in the second half, the town erupted in faint distant cheers, and probably a half dozen different sets of fireworks went off in the distance. I'm not kidding. It was awesome, really. I had to laugh.


For while I'm glad the U.S. team didn't lose (I have just enough national pride left in me to mildly care) I'm also somehow pleased that Guatemala didn't lose. I've grown especially fond, and so a bit protective of my dear little Guatemaltecos, you see.. I'm rooting deeply for them. Because while probably less than 1 in a 100 of Americans will even be aware of the game tomorrow, 99 in 100 Guatemalans will be. The fact that they at least did not lose to the great gringo satan is tonight salve for many a Guatemalan soul.. And for that I'm very glad.

Signing off,

Oye todos mis compadres, por esta noche se puede llamarme,

- Carlos Bocanegra Cortes




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