Benny Feilhaber’s 25-yard volley into the corner of the Mexican goal was one for the ages, not least because it guaranteed a dry run for the US Men’s National Team at the Confederations Cup just one year prior to the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa, to say nothing of proving once and for all that there's much, much more to the American team to torment Mexican fans where-ever they may be than just Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley.

Before I get too far along in this, here are all the articles I’ve found on today’s game, and here is my preview column: (Súper-Clásico 2007 v.2-Chicago Deep Dish) .

Things to Celebrate

When things click, our offense is capable of creating plenty of dangerous scoring opportunities. Whether it be Clint Dempsey spinning Omar Bravo into the ground, no-look backheel passes in the Mexican penalty box, solo American attackers splitting 2 and 3 Mexican defenders (several times), or even our wingbacks sending in dangerous early crosses into the box, we are creating the raw materials that victories are made from.

Today we also saw a new trait previously unnecessary in this tournament: the ability to go into the locker room at half-time trailing, and come back out in the second half with heads still high, and plenty of willingness to fight back and take the game to the Mexicans. That's a very good thing to see.

Things to Fear

The Italian Azzurri amply reminded us of the old cliché at last year's World Cup Finals: while offense may win games, a strong defense wins championships. And after watching the extremely uneven and shaky performance of the US back line throughout the Gold Cup tournament as well as this game, I somewhat shudder to think what might happen against a fully loaded Argentina next week. My one consolation: Kasey Keller didn't exactly have a better back line when he stoned Brazil back in the 1995 edition of the Copa America. So if Tim Howard continues his hot streak in goal, it may not matter as much.

One thing that will however matter is if Bob Bradley can't figure out a way to get the American attackers to punish mistakes the way world class teams are supposed to. From the 4 v 2 breakout that resulted only in a squibbed Dempsey shot straight to Mexican goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez, to the 2 v 0 that Beasley put off the crossbar from just outside the 6 yard box, when the Mexican defense wasn't being bailed out by Sanchez, they were being bailed out by us, and that has to change.

No Respect

At least today apparently a few Mexican players actually shook hands post-game with the Americans^*, but the truly amazing thing to me about the US-México games is that despite losing 8 straight (!) to the US on American soil, plus the only head-to-head meeting in the World Cup Finals, not once has a single Mexican player or coach ever admitted that the US were the better team on the day^**. It seems to be all they can muster to say that we won the game, but each and every time we get some gem like this today from Hugo Sanchez: "The US played a more tactical game, but we deserved a better result. The team that plays best doesn't always win."

Hugo Sanchez is widely acknowledged to be the greatest Mexican player ever, and this "insight" on the game explains why so few great players make great coaches. If he can name a single sport where the best team always wins, or what a coach gets paid for if not the tactical moves to bring about a victory since he can't exactly step on the field and otherwise affect the game, maybe I'll give him a fair chance at finishing the summer at the head of El Tri.

Sanchez's statement wouldn't be nearly so offensive if he was at least correct as to who actually was the better team on the day. By my count, if Mexican goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez hadn't been in nets, the game could have easily been 4-1. Even with Sanchez's pair of top drawer, point blank saves on Clint Dempsey, he still had to rely on not just Brian Ching hitting the post instead of an open net, but also DaMarcus Beasley hitting the crossbar to even have a chance to tie the game.

By comparison, Tim Howard only once was called on to tip away a truly dangerous chance on the American goal. There were certainly times when it seemed like the field was tilted downhill towards the American end of the field, but there were plenty of times when it seemed like the Mexican defense couldn't clear the ball out of their own end as well. Both teams had sequences of nice, quick, one-two-touch passes, blind flicks, nutmegs, short-dropping jukes, etc.

What Hugo Sanchez fails to acknowledge is that the tactic of patiently absorbing pressure at times, combined with applying it when appropriate, is actually how a sane team approaches the game. If a team were to attack willy-nilly, without any consideration for how exposed their backline was, without paying enough respect to the potential danger of an opponent's attack, you get, well, you get the lone Mexican goal, created when the American defenders got caught too far upfield and had to chase Nery Castillo down the wing, a problem compounded by some pee wee soccer "we're all going to collapse on the ball instead of marking a man" defending that left Andres Guardado alone at the back post to top-shelf a shot for the first Mexican goal on American soil in 797 minutes of playing time.

Allow me to stretch this argument a little bit further by pointing out that the US actually came from behind to win this game, the first time an American team has managed to do that versus a Mexican team since 1934. México couldn't manage the same feat even this tournament versus Honduras. And it's not exactly like either goal were flukes, own-goals, or something else the Americans shouldn't take credit for, so who knows what the hell he's talking about.

If an American team is ever "good enough" to get a Mexican official or player to admit our superiority in a game, it will likely result in the same sort of lopsided 4-0 and worse victory margins that used to go in their favor in this rivalry, and I don't know that that is really their hope or desire.

^*It's pretty sad that we have to applaud when even a portion of a team playing at the top level of its sport can muster up the decency to do what every recreational and amateur soccer player from the age of 6 on up does: shake your opponent's hand after a hard-fought game.

^**Is it any coincidence that the Chicago Fire's newly signed Mexican striker Cuauhtemoc Blanco was the lone player to almost negate that with this post-game quote: "They deserve to the No. 1 team in CONCACAF." That's a sentiment hard to contest given the utter dominance the US has displayed against México this millenium everywhere except México City's Estadio Azteca: a smog-enveloped, high-altitude cauldron of a home stadium always featuring 100,000 fans baying for symbolic American blood to be spilled in the form of goals in the back of our net. But it's not quite the same as saying the better team won today.