Coming in to yesterday’s game against the Angels, the Twins had lost ten in a row at home. Over at Twinkie Town, I invented a few reasons for why this might be.

Sixteen years.

The last time that Mexico scored a goal in a World Cup qualifier in the United States was April 1997. Since then, the Mexicans have tried three times to beat the USA on American soil. Since then, the Mexicans have lost 2-0 three times, all in Columbus – the location of tonight’s renewal of North America’s best international rivalry.

It must be said that this year’s edition of this match looks a bit stranger than most. The two countries are generally the powerhouses of CONCACAF, but while the USA is just steps away from sealing a ticket to next year’s World Cup in Brazil, Mexico is reeling, and in some danger of missing out on qualifying for the first time since 1990.

Both teams lost on Friday; the Americans went down 3-1 at Costa Rica after giving up two goals in the first nine minutes. It brought the USA’s twelve-match winning streak to a juddering halt, and made tonight’s game look rather more important for America’s chances.

Mexico, though, fell completely to pieces, losing a home World Cup qualifier for only the second time ever. They took a 1-0 lead on Honduras only six minutes in, but Honduras scored twice in a three-minute span in the second half to turn the tide, and Mexico couldn’t find a reply. The defeat cost coach Jose Manuel “Chepo” de la Torre his job; he’s been replaced by assistant Luis Fernando Tena.

Now, Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl thinks that Mexico missing out on the World Cup would be a bad thing for America. I have thought about this, and I can’t say I agree with him one bit. As an American fan, I would much, much prefer that Mexico loses every game 10-0 and fires their coach after every match; similarly, I suspect that Mexican fans hope that Columbus’s stadium falls over and Landon Donovan’s legs fall off. Such is the nature of rivalry. Reason does not play into it.

The USA can clinch a berth in the World Cup with a win and a Panama loss or tie against Honduras. Mexico, meanwhile, trails Honduras by two points for the third and final automatic berth, and leads Panama by only one point in the race for fourth place, the winner of which will play off against New Zealand for a trip to the finals in Brazil. (The standings are here.)

Unfortunately for the Americans, they’ll have to try to beat Mexico without midfielder Michael Bradley, the key to their team. The 26-year-old rolled his ankle in warmups before the Costa Rica game; perhaps not surprisingly, the USA lost the battle in the center of midfield without him. He won’t play tonight.

Also missing out is the team’s best forward, Jozy Altidore, and two of the team’s defenders, Geoff Cameron and Matt Besler. All three picked up second yellow cards against Costa Rica, and are thus suspended one game. Besler’s in particular made headlines after a US Soccer video proved that Costa Rican striker Joel Campbell had taken one of the most heinous dives in soccer history, which somehow convinced the assistant referee that Besler deserved one of the most ridiculous cautions you will ever see.

Stalwart Omar Gonzalez will thus have a new partner in central defense tonight – possibly Clarence Goodson, who played there during the Gold Cup, next to left back DaMarcus Beasley. It’s looking like Bradley will be replaced by Kyle Beckerman in central midfield, alongside Jermaine Jones – the same two that led the USA to their first-ever win in Mexico last year. Up front, the USA will depend on veterans Donovan and Clint Dempsey, in some combination and formation, to lead their attack.

The game is at 7pm, on ESPN. The Twin Cities have sent a large contingent of fans to Columbus; the remainder will be gathering at the Sweetwater Bar and Grill in St. Paul.

It’s been sixteen years since Mexico scored in a World Cup qualifier in the USA. You can bet that every American fan at the Sweetwater would dearly love to extend that streak to at least twenty years – and maybe, in the process, help knock Mexico further into the qualification danger zone.

NOTE: This appeared at SoccerCentric.

We did a post-Vikings game podcast on Sunday. It made us kind of feel better about what was a horrible Vikings game.

In conclusion, Christian Ponder is history’s greatest monster.

*NOTE: This appeared at SoccerCentric. *

In no particular order, a few thoughts from Minnesota’s 1-1 draw with Edmonton on Saturday:

1. It’s been three months – really – since Minnesota won a home game in the league. Moreover, they’ve yet to win a game at NSC Stadium this year; the last time they won at home was June 8 against Fort Lauderdale, in the Metrodome. Since then, they’ve lost to Atlanta twice, and tied with Tampa Bay and Edmonton.

Throw in the team’s home loss to Des Moines in the US Open Cup, and Minnesota has just two wins in ten home games this year, to go with four ties and four losses. United looked to have a built-in advantage in the fall’s title race, with four of their last six games at home, but right now that’s looking to be more of a hindrance than a help.

1. Miguel Ibarra’s crossing has improved enormously. For the second straight week, an Ibarra cross led to a Minnesota goal – this time, from a short corner. Ibarra played a perfect ball in, one that drew Montons netminder Lance Parker out of his goal but evaded the keeper’s punch, setting Cristiano Dias up perfectly for the header that gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead. The winger has always been one of the fastest in the league, but he spent much of the spring searching for that final ball that would give United a chance to score; two weeks in a row, he’s found it.

2. Sinisa Ubiparipovic might have just set the bar for worst-ever performance for a Minnesota player. He came on as a substitute, played one minute, and was sent off. I’m not sure why he decided that he needed to kick Edmonton’s Chris Nurse in the chest after he’d been fouled; perhaps Nurse said awful things about his family in the split-second it took for the pair to fall to the ground. Regardless, it was a moment of genuine madness, right in front of the referee, who didn’t hesitate for a second in showing Ubiparipovic the red card.

The last United player who earned a red card, Brian Kallman, hasn’t seen the field since. We’ll see what fate befalls Ubiparipovic.

1. Chalk up another mark on the “goals allowed at critical times” tote board. This time, the smoke hadn’t even cleared from the celebratory flares before Minnesota had given away its 1-0 lead. Dias was beaten down Edmonton’s right-hand side almost immediately from the kickoff by Antonio Rago, and the other three Minnesota defenders got caught in no-man’s land between attackers, and suddenly nobody was marking anybody and Corey Hertzog was booting the ball into the back of the net.

2. It’ll be interesting to watch the attendance trends for the remainder of the fall. Minnesota drew just 3,874 people on Saturday, their smallest crowd of the season. Their first three regular-season games at the NSC drew three of their five largest attendances of the year, all over 5,600 – but with fall comes other distractions, like school for kids, and Saturday college football for casual fans. It’s also only going to get chillier in September and October; not everyone enjoys a cold day or evening out.

3. Every team is still in the race to win the fall championship. Despite earning just eight points in six matches, Minnesota is only two points behind the three-way Tampa-Carolina-Fort Lauderdale tie at the top of the league. In fact, three points is all that separates first place and seventh place in the NASL. Even lowly San Antonio, which earned its first points of the fall with a draw at Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, is not necessarily out of the running, with eight games remaining. Parity was the story of the spring; so too in the fall.

United, then, could become the league leaders with a good run of results – but that’s something they haven’t managed at all this season. Their longest winning streak is one match; their longest unbeaten streak is two matches. You have to go back to May 2012 to find Minnesota’s last two-game winning streak in the regular season.

This time last year, Minnesota was limping through a run of four consecutive draws, treading water and just barely staying in the sixth and final playoff position. That’s not going to work this year. The fall title is all that matters, and United can’t get there with draws and the occasional victory.

Asking United head coach Manny Lagos about formations usually prompts a mildly impatient response. This week, I asked him about his decision to play a 4-4-2 against San Antonio, instead of the 4-2-1-3 with which the team had begun the fall season – and his answer was no different. “For us, the system is important, but the habits that we are trying to incorporate and build off of are important as well,” he said. “I think the guys embraced that for large periods of the game against San Antonio.”

That said, Lagos did single out a pair of areas as impressive – the forward partnership between Pablo Campos and Mike Ambersley, and the wide midfielders and their combinations with the fullbacks. Given that I was also impressed with the central midfield and the center backs, that’s everybody on the pitch. In other words, it wouldn’t be surprising to see more or less an unchanged starting eleven against Edmonton tonight.

The only certain difference is with Campos, who is suspended for the game tonight. Otherwise, I’ve been told that the squad has no injury concerns – at least as of Thursday’s practice – so Lagos has a full squad at his disposal.

Avoiding the letdown

Last time United got a late winner, they lost their next three games. Lagos, though, feels there’s no comparison between the two situations. For one, United had two weeks off in the spring after beating Fort Lauderdale in the 96th minute; for another, the two squads look very different. “I think we’ve moved on,” said the coach.

He also pointed out something else about the game following that Fort Lauderdale win, at Carolina. For most of the first half, United was in control against the RailHawks, who have proved impossible to beat at home. Minnesota took a 2-0 lead with two early goals, and only gave up a penalty to allow Carolina back within 2-1 at half.

Unfortunately for Minnesota, the late stages of the second half gave the RailHawks a 3-2 win – which prompted a slide that didn’t end for nearly two months. Said Lagos of that slide, “I think we learned a lot about our team and ourselves going into that break, and about ways we could potentially improve.”

The head coach feels similarly about the win over San Antonio. “I think we learned a lot about our team this weekend and I think there are a lot of positives to grow on,” he said.

More on why Arguez left Carolina

Over the summer break, Minnesota traded midfielder Bryan Arguez to Carolina, in exchange for Floyd Franks. Just a couple of weeks into the fall season, though, the RailHawks released Arguez with no explanation given – and last week, we learned why. Arguez stands accused of raping a woman in DeKalb County, Georgia,  while Carolina was in Atlanta for week two of the fall season. As of yesterday, he remains in jail, though he has been granted bond.

Game details

It’s a 6pm start at the National Sports Center, for whatever reason this evening. The Dark Clouds supporters group has promised to ridicule anybody who accidentally shows up at 7pm.

If you can’t be in Blaine, you can see the game online at MNUnitedFC.com.

At Twinkie Town this week, I imagined what the Twins’ goodbye video for Justin Morneau might have sounded like. This also marks the debut of Doumitbot, which I think I should have used before.

Anyway, it makes no sense again this week, so click over, would you?

Monday, though, saw the most movement. Madrid, no doubt looking to fund its Bale purchase, sent German attacking midfielder Mesut Ozil to Arsenal for $66 million, far and away the record signing for the famously cheap London club. The Spanish giants also sold Brazilian midfielder Kaka back to AC Milan, where the 31-year-old appeared 193 times from 2003-2009. Manchester United had a bid for Atletico Bilbao’s Ander Herrera fall through, but did sign Everton’s Marouane Fellani for $43 million, so things aren’t all so bad in Manchester, either.

The biggest surprise might have been that United forward Wayne Rooney stayed put. A move to Chelsea had been the subject of so much public speculation – much of it from Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who seemed unconcerned about unsettling a player at another team – that it had started to seem like a given. But, come deadline day, it just didn’t happen.

Liverpool are thus left as the only Premier League team that’s perfect through three games. Arsenal, given up as fourth-place hopefuls at best, showed they won’t relinquish the North London crown they’ve held for 18 years quite so easily. Meanwhile, new Manchester United manager David Moyes is starting to hear a few rumblings from supporters that did not expect only one win out of three matches, and Tottenham are forced to deal with the fact that, for all their summer purchases, they haven’t scored a goal in three games that didn’t come from the penalty spot.

Of course, three games do not a season make. But for now, the natural order of things won’t be quite so settled. And with an international break upcoming and no more Premier League fixtures until September 14, all involved will have a few moments to stew in what’s happened so far.

With the teams set, UEFA set the eight groups for the group stage, which begins the first week of October. Celtic and AC Milan got the worst of things, as they were drawn into Group H with Barcelona and Ajax. Arsenal ended up with no picnic either, in group F with Marseille, Borussia Dortmund, and Napoli. Meanwhile, Chelsea got the most favorable road, with a group including FC Basel, Schalke 04, and Steaua Bucharest.

Analysis of all eight groups can be found here. Two teams from each group qualify for the knockout round.

Surprisingly, it’s also a key week for Mexico, which sits in third place, the last spot for automatic qualification. The Mexicans have scored just three goals in six qualifying matches, leading to one win and five draws, including two consecutive scoreless draws. If they lose at home to Honduras on Friday, they’ll relinquish third place – and be facing an uphill battle to make the World Cup.