An article from bleacherreport.com positing that Giovani Dos Santos could shine more than Lio Messi at the World Cup has earned attention here. At first glance, this is completely laughable, since Messi is regularly brilliant and Gio has been very good only in flashes (notably, the destruction of a very limited US team in last year's Gold Cup). At the same time, Mexico's group looks better than it is, which could pave the way for "surprising" run, and Gio will be a big part of whatever Mexico does. Messi's problems with Argentina during qualifying, of course, are rather well documented, and expectations are so high that, unless Messi scores a bunch and Argentina reaches at least the semis, people are going to be making negative comparisons to his form at Barca.
It's still a silly article, but Dos Santos being a revelation while Messi disappoints is not inconceivable (especially when you check out the preliminary list of the latter's teammates). But it would be a really depressing result, not unlike your brother's grilled steak sandwich coming out more flavorful than your filet mignon. Nothing against the steak sandwich, but that's not how it's supposed to be.
2 comments:
As someone who has lived in many parts of the US, including NYC and now lived in Mexico City for four years, I concur with your opinion. New York is the financial and (I would argue) intellectual epicenter of the US, but politics is clearly centered in DC (where I've also lived) and popular culture in LA.
One interesting way in which this is manifested is the derisive term "chilango." There is nothing quite like it in the US ("Yankee" and "Redneck" might come close, but, neither term is focused on the residents of a particular city). I think residents of the DF are much more despised through the rest of Mexico than are residents of NYC in the rest of the US. My hunch is that the biggest reason is that no matter whether one hates politicians, bankers, intellectuals, pop culture, money, you'll find a target-rich environment in the DF.
Yeah there's nothing quite like Chilango. Flid? Guido? Nothing quite captures it. I was actually at a party the other night where the host was originally from Mexico City and everyone else was local, and his Mexico City-ness was the subject of like 20 percent of the conversation. A lot of people are obsessed with disliking Mexico City.
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