US @ Azteca: The Right Kind of Friendly

Hallelujah. We're finally playing Mexico in Mexico.

As much as I appreciate all the money we (or rather Soccer United Marketing (SUM) and the anointed venue) pick up by playing them States-side, I think we all know by now what happens when the U.S. plays Mexico on U.S. soil (let's just say two goals seem to get scored by one team).

To take this one step further, I want Mexico to host next year's Superliga. Hell, alternate the thing. I'm sure SUM can arrange the situation to see they keep getting their slice. Ditto with the CONCACAF Gold Cup: rotate that thing around the region to any country that can so much as sorta support the event. It gives the host country something to go nuts about and, judging by the stadium in a place like Puntarenas, it'll be pretty damned exotic in the right climes.

Here's the thing: it may be true that there are "no home games" for the U.S. Men's team (Yanquis) - and, it's possible that even Major League Soccer (MLS) clubs aren't the focus of adulation during the Superliga (can't say; haven't seen a friggin' game yet) - but the permanent home-field thing the Yanquis and MLS clubs have enjoyed in recent years won't make our players any tougher or better. Consider the, um, "challenging locales" in which we'll wind up playing as "quality multipliers" for our CONCACAF opposition; the sterner competition now won't hurt us later in any case.

And there's nothing wrong with sharing the wealth either...

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