Cuauhtémoc Blanco

Cuauhtémoc Blanco's celebration, after scoring the match winner against Honduras, said it all; I am still here. The Tricolor icon placed two fingers infront of his mouth and pretended to smoke. The gesture was to refrence the chain smoking former Tricolor coach Ricardo Antonio Lavolpe who had robbed Temoc out of participating in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Now, at 36 years of age the volatile striker was catapulting Mexico to second place in the CONCACAF Hexagonal with a well placed penalty kick shot. A significant goal that not put an end to the belief that Temoc's time with the national team had come and gone but assured that the Tricolor icon gets to play in another World Cup before he hangs his boots.

Green Street 2

I really liked Green Street Hooligans, except for the ending which was rather weak, so I was stoked to find out that a sequel had been made. I was expecting a follow up of the members of the GSE (Green Street Elite) but instead what I got was a prison movie sans the arse rape. None of the original cast from Green Street returns, save for Ross McCall, who reprises his role as Dave.

So, Dave along with two of his GSE mates fight off Chelsea hooligans and then are transfered to another prison where they are constantly under attack from memebers of the Millwall firm which they had rumbled against in the first film. The grand final is when the GSE take on the Millwall Bushwackers in a game of football where the winners will be let free, meh.

Beep, beep..

I am not sure what I was most impressed with; Giovani's 25 yard blast to open the scoring, against Costa Rica, or the way he ran past defender Junior Diaz to set up Guillermo Franco for Mexico's second goal. That play reminded me of the Roadrunner flying past Wild E Coyote; whose attempts to catch the long-legged bird always ended in Epic Fails.

With Gio leading Mexico to an impressive three-nil victory at San Jose's Saprissa Stadium Mexico are now in third place and with a great chance of taking the lead in the Hexagonal when they host Honduras this Wednsday. Giovani will once again be expected to be the diffrence maker as he has now been turned into Mexico's "Savior" a title which he has done his best to play down.

Chiva Clasico

Que mamadas son estas, Y quien fue el pendejo que se le ocurio nombrar al amistoso Chiva Clasico. No recuerdo ver ningun partido entre ambas Chivas y ya es clasico; vayanse a la Verga..

El Hachita Luduena

Daniel "Hachita" Luduena arrived to the Mexican League in 2004 to play with Tecos and in the five years that he has been plying his trade in Mexico has become one of the best foreigners in the league. Last year Luduena applied for Mexican citizenship and it was believed that he was in former coach Sven Goran Ericksons plans to received a call-up to the national team.

Luduena also suffered a series of injuries that hindered his performance with current club Santos Laguna which coincidentaly struggled in league play. This season Luduena appears to be back. Hachitas brace in Santos recent two-goal draw against Tigres have certainly put him back in the spotlight.

My question now is; does Javier Aguirre have any plans to include Luduena in the Tricolor. The current Mexico boss seems to have discarded Pavel Pardo and Zinha; a spot that Hachita will be more than willing to cover in the Tricolor.

Super Plastico

I would like to pretend that I care for the Chivas USA vs. Los Angeles match up but that is no longer the case. The L.A derby, the only derby in MLS, was one of the few games that would take me to the Home Depot Center. However, that no longer happens as I find myself detaching from the Chivas franchise with each passing season.

For starters the fact that the matchup gets named the Honda Super Clasico even before the two team’s even play a single game pissed me off. I believe Honda has since dropped off as sponsors but the game keeps being marketed as the Super Cassico with a nifty trophy awarded to the winner of the three or four game series. Regardless, the rivalry is far from being a Super Clasico.

A Super Clasico is the type of game that divides a country in half, it is a game between the two most popular teams, and lines are drawn. Important events and games are settled during Super Clasico's; all of which are still lacking from MLS version of the mother of all league games.

Another important factor of a Super Clasico is the number of important matches disputed by the rivals. Chivas and Galaxy have yet to meet in Championship finals; granted the rivalry is only four years old. Still, there has been no reason to market a fledging rivalry as a Super Classico that is only deceiving the fans. I have no doubt that the L.A derby can become a great matchup but we are still a few years away from that to happen

And the main reason I have been staying away from the Super Plastico has been the Home Depot Center front office which have banned the Union Ultras and Legion 1908 from using flags and fireworks; pretty much terminating any real passion present in the stadium to ensure MLS remain a mom and pop league. Match atmosphere is a very important aspect to the game take that away and I would rather watch the game at home.

Damian Manso

There are many promising players that get touted as the next best thing and at 16 years of age Damian Manso was going to be the second coming of Maradona. I was fortunate to have seen one of Manso’s first games with Newell’s Old Boys and throughout the years kept tabs on the upstart Argentine.

Unfortunately a string of injuries marginalized Manso and kept him away from the spotlight. The crafty midfielder even had two failed stints in Europe with French outfit Bastia and the Greek club Xanthi; with each failed run leading him back to Newells. I had all but forgotten about Manso until watching the 2008 FIFA club’s World Cup semi-final’s match between Pachuca and LDU Quito.

It was there that I learned that Manso had been a key figure in Quito’s Copa Libertadores conquest. At 30 years of age Manso was finally fulfilling half of his projected potential. Manso’s participation in the club’s WC earned him the bronze ball and a contract with Pachuca.