US-Mexico Aftermath

1) Landon Donovan has the disease formerly known as the swine flu. In fact, he had it before the Mexico City qualifier on Wednesday, but wasn't diagnosed until he returned to LA. There was speculation on ESPN last night that he was infected by a couple of Galaxy employees. I'm not a big fan of political conspiracy theories, but I love those that have to do with sports, so if I may: I heard that the two Galaxy employees are Tri enthusiasts who infected Donovan on purpose. (I didn't really.) Whatever the case, although there is no US player whom Gancho enjoys ragging on more than Donovan, we hope for his speedy recovery.

2) Also on ESPN: Fútbol Picante capped off a lengthy discussion of Nery Castillo's erratic play, aggressive behavior with the press, and perhaps unethical arrival at el Tri (there is speculation that his father negotiated a fee to play for Mexico instead of Greece or Uruguay, for whose national teams he was also eligible) with a simple conclusion: Nery is a "pobre idiota".

3) Also, Gio dos Santos has really had a topsy-turvy 10 months. First he is caught on film being carried out of a bar last December. He fails to shine in any of the games with el Tri with Sven-Goran. He is then demoted from Tottenham to second-division non-power Ipswich in March, and, though young, his career prospects look a bit bleak.

Then Aguirre replaces Sven-Goran, and, in a friendly against Venezuela, dos Santos suddenly looks like the prospect we fell in love with in 2005. He then starts dating Belinda, an up-and-coming songstress. Gio carries that into the Gold Cup, where he was Mexico's best player and earned the MVP trophy. He shines in the qualifier against the US in Azteca, one of Mexico's pressure-packed wins of the decade. He is then caught making out with Belinda. Now, after the victory over the US, Mouriño wants him at Inter, and Guardado is putting in a good word for him at la Coruña.

Lastly, click here or here for an eyewitness account of the atmosphere in Azteca. It's the next best thing to being there.