U.S. any extra motivation for Mexico
If Tim Howard's feelings are any indication, Wednesday's World Cup qualifier between the United States and Mexico will not be personal, at least from the Americans' side.
"I don't think we need any extra motivation for the game," said Howard, who will make his first appearance at Azteca Stadium. "We know what's at stake, and our goal is to qualify for the World Cup and do it as quickly as possible. So any of the extra stuff is just that, it's not something we're going to rely on to motivate us. We have what we need within our team."
Ask Howard about Andres Guardado's prediction of a 3-0 Mexico win, and Howard sounds like he's just been told he needs a colonoscopy.
"That's for him to worry about. He's the one that said it, not any of us," Howard said Monday during a U.S. Soccer conference call from Miami. "No one can predict the score line, so we'll see what happens."
What the United States hopes happens is its first win in Mexico. It is 0-18-1 when dealing with the altitude (over 7,000 feet), smog and a stadium that seats 105,000 rabid fans.
Midway through the final round of qualifying, the Americans are in good but not great position, second place with 10 points.
Mexico is in a tight spot, however, in fourth place (6 points), and a loss Wednesday would only increase the pressure on coach Javier Aguirre and his team, who are seen as underachievers.
That's something for the Mexicans to worry about, not Howard. He said he's not trying to knock Mexico out, only to get the United States in.
"I keep saying it because it's true; who gets to the World Cup in CONCACAF isn't any of our concern as long as we're one of the teams," Howard said. "That's the most important thing to us. So those other outside factors, I suppose they're nice to read and write about, but it's not something that motivates us in any way, shape or form."
The game is so big that ESPN will host a 2:30 p.m. pregame show for the 3 p.m. match even though it doesn't have rights to broadcast the actual game, a first for the network. Mun2 has the English-language rights to the game.
New look: Kudos to the U.S. Soccer Federation on the long-overdue redesign of its Web site, ussoccer.com. If you're at work Wednesday afternoon, or just unable to find mun2 on cable (DirectTV has it on channel 410 and Dish Network has it on channel 838), try following the United States-Mexico game on the site's MatchTracker.
A championship atmosphere: The Fire might have lost last week's SuperLiga final in a shootout to Tigres UANL, but it was the best soccer atmosphere Toyota Park has seen this season.
The stadium was sold out, and the group of groups in Section 8 were in full throat. The streamers thrown onto the field from Section 8 just before the second half started sent a strong message of support, though they did go a little overboard. And it might have been a reason referee Joel Aguilar chose to hold the shootout at the other end of the field.
"Obviously, there was a lot of Tigres fans, which was expected. I even think I saw some of our normal fans in Tigres jerseys, which was kind of weird. But I won't say anything about that," Fire captain C.J. Brown said with a wry smile. "But we had a good group. I think our fan group, Section 8, was loud and clear. Even our regular fans were trying to voice themselves, which was great.
"We're disappointed not to be able to win the game for them right now. We're due for a championship here."
oschwarz@dailyherald.com