Mexico: No Sportsmanship

Once again, USA defeated Mexico 2-0 in an international friendly in Glendale, AZ. Goals by Jimmy Conrad and Landon Donovan extended the Americans' dominance of their regional rival.

Playing in front of a heavily pro-Mexican sellout crowd of 64,462, the Americans improved to 8-2-1 against Mexico since 2000. The United States is 7-0-1 against Mexico on home soil in that stretch, outscoring its southern neighbor 13-0.

However, the Mexican players failed to do the customary ritual of shaking hands at the end of the match and exchanging jerseys. After the whistle blew, the players went off the field without shaking the Americans' hands.

USA Player Donovan:
"The sportsmanship -- it would be nice if you guys (reporters) and the Mexican press talked about it, because it's really poor," Donovan said. "When we lose to them there, we shake their hands and say, `Good job.' There's none of that reciprocally, and it's kind of disappointing."

Mexican Player Marquez:
"They were a little opportunistic and stayed in their own end for the majority of the match, but they did beat us," Marquez said. "Considering the tactics that they utilized, I think that is the credit I would give them considering the fact that on the field, they were not superior to us."

It is not unusual for a team to stage a defensive strategy once you are ahead in the match. If Mexico felt there were the stronger team, well, the USA team had a strong defense to counter their attacks. It would seem they were acting like sore losers.

This is a friendly match and not yet a qualifying match for the next World Cup.

Comments

Posted by: Jorge
Posted on: January 7, 2008 12:24 PM

Man, f**k whoever wrote this. Mexico will always be better than gayass USA. We will prove that on Febuary.