Preamble: Good evening and welcome to the minute-by-minute account of tonight's exciting World Cup qualifying match between the United States and Mexico.
The last time these two bitter rivals met in Columbus, in September 2005, the US walked away with a 2-0 victory that clinched a spot in the 2006 World Cup.
Far less is at stake tonight, but you can expect the competition to be just as fierce. These teams don't like each other, so we're no doubt in for plenty of hard fouls.
Lost in all of the noise about David Beckham's expected move to AC Milan has been Landon Donovan's outstanding form at Bayern Munich.
He scored several goals in exhibition matches and assisted on a few others. Donovan can legitimately expect to get serious minutes for Jurgen Klinsmann's squad until he is called back to LA.
Unless of course, Bayern makes a bid for him (my fingers are crossed).
Point is, Donovan has gotten regular playing time for one of the better teams in Europe, and done well. Mexico had better watch out.
El Tri stumbled into the final round of qualification, beating out Jamaica on goal differential. Sven-Goran Eriksson's job could conceivably be at stake in the next few matches if they continue their poor run of form.
Luckily, the Mexicans have a healthy pool of players to choose from; they hope a game against the US will spark some passion in their squad and produce a result.
Prediction: USA! USA! USA! 2-1 Mexico, on goals from Donovan and Sacha Kljestan.
Starting lineups
Team America: Howard (GK), Onyewu, Bocanegra, Hejduk, Pearce, Kljestan, Beasley, Dempsey, Bradley, Donovan, Ching
Mexico: Sanchez (GK), Salcido, Marquz, Galindo, Osorio, Dos Santos, Pardo, Augusto, Medina, Castillo, Ochoa
On a more personal note: The US is 2-0 in WCQ matches that I have attended. Can they pull together and win one with me watching on TV?
I opted out of driving down to Columbus tonight because hey, who wants to spend several hours sitting outside in Columbus in the middle of February?
Besides, I was in Columbus three and a half years ago to watch Oguchi Onyewu stare down Jared Borgetti.
Current temperature in Columbus: thanks to an unseasonable heat wave, it's 50 degrees. Damn it, I'm an idiot.
But it is supposed to be quite rainy.
Pregame hubbub: Pedro Gomez claims that Albania is a city. We're off to a great start.
1 min: After the teams take the field to a face-melting guitar solo, we're off! How many times does Brett Favre have to retire before it's not news anymore?
3 min: A great save by Tim Howard denies an early Mexican attempt. Both teams look mighty nervous though.
6 min: A Pavel Pardo free kick beats Tim Howard and skips over the crossbar for a goal kick. Mexico look the better team, but then Donovan nearly scores from the goal kick.
10 min: The US back line looks very shaky. I'm just going to go ahead and blame Heath Pearce. Why won't Bradley select Jonathan Bornstein?
12 min:
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