World Cup 2010: American Fortress Trumps Mexico Again

A pop quiz question. When was the last time Mexico defeated the United States on American soil? I'll give you a few seconds to think that over.

Tick, tick, tick. Ding.

Okay. Time's up. The answer is...March 13, 1999. It was a 2-1 victory in the 1999 U.S. Cup at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California.

March 13, 1999. If you count the seconds, hours, days, months, years, famous people deceased, and dust blowing in the wind since that fateful day in the Ides of March (all right, I admit, the last two are optional), you can calculate that as of Feb. 12, 2009 (and assuming that the calculation started on midnight, March 14), it has been approximately...

9 years, 10 months and two days, or
118 months and two days, or
43,074 days (including leap year days), or
1033776 hours, or
62026560 minutes, or
3721593600 seconds since Mexico defeated the USA in the USA.

Man, that's a lot of time.

Good golly, I need an atomic clock to figure that out. And of course, my margin of error is off by a few ticks or wrinkles in time, but who's counting?

All bad humor aside, the bottom line is this: Since 1999, the USA has never lost to Mexico in the USA. That was emphasized on Wednesday with a 2-0 win in Columbus thanks to a Michael Bradley brace.

The pitch of Reliant Stadium has been sympathetic to El Tri with draws of no goals and two goals respectively, but otherwise, Sven-Goran Erickson's team has had it rough playing with Bob Bradley's MNT.

The only times that Mexico was able to defeat the USA between March 1999 and February 2009 were in the same stadium at the same city in the same country: Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Mexico. 1-0, 1-0, and 2-1. Those were the only games where Mexico had the advantage.

It's a far cry from the past, where Mexico was able to routinely defeat the USA in the States after their very first meeting saw the USA defeat Mexico, 4-2, in a 1934 World Cup Qualifier in Italy.

During the years of obscurity for the USA, Mexico was able to hammer its neighbors to the north with scorelines such as 5-0, 5-1, 6-0, 6-2, 7-2, and 7-3. After a brief period in the early 1990s, which saw the USA win a number of games against the Mexicans, El Tri won four out of seven matches from June 1996 to August 1999.

But this decade has been a completely different story. Under managers like Steve Sampson, Bruce Arena, and current coach Bob Bradley, the Americans have made the rivalry a little more even, and a lot more intense.

It put the onus on the talent and play to improve on both sides. And the resurgence of the USA has made this rivalry one of the best in the world, as well as CONCACAF's international showcase match.

Over 56 matches, Mexico has won 30, the USA has won 15, and both national teams have drawn 11 times. Mexico has scored 119 goals, while the USA has delivered 64.

Sven-Goran Eriksson's Mexican side—led by Oswaldo Sanchez, Rafael Marquez, Carlos Salcido, Nery Castillo, Giovanni Dos Santos, Carlos Ochoa, Pavel Pardo, and Alberto Medina—have yet to taste defeat at home, much in the same way that the USA women have yet to suffer a loss to El Tri north of the border.

But with the results starting to swing in the favor of the USA men—led by Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, DaMarcus Beasley, Jozy Altidore, Oguchi Onyewu, Bradley and keeper Tim Howard, one can only suspect that at some point in time, Fortress Azteca will be breached.

Start the countdown.