It’s finally upon us, Hate Week, the week before the first U.S.-Mexico match of the new year. You might ask where hatred comes into it between the U.S. and El Tri, considering that El Tri gets beaten like the protagonist in a Lifetime original movie every time the two teams play outside of Azteca. It’s not about a historical animosity between the two countries like Germany-Holland (well, it might be on one side, and to that I say, Winfield Scott in your base). It’s not about a long tradition of thrilling soccer matches. It’s simple: pure, unfiltered, hatred. Not of the country, just the soccer team. They’re a bunch of good-for-nothing prima donnas who expect their opponents to give up when they’re on the same field as the mighty Mexico. That sort of attitude is annoying as hell out of England and their fans, but they’ve at least won something. Mexico hasn’t won a damn thing outside of the CONCACAF ghetto, and they probably never will. Within the CONCACAF ghetto, it’s been a while. The days are gone when they could show up and beat the stuffing out of Guatemala et. al. without trying. There’s only one team in the region that can do that now, and they’re not wearing green. The team is classless in defeat and…well, who knows what they’re like when they win? It’s been a while.

To get the bad taste out of your mouth, may I suggest the video below the fold, the most sublime moment of soccer awesome the USMNT has produced since 2002: