FC Dallas’ Historic Win In Mexico Signal Of Changing Tide?

For a while, there wasn’t any way of measuring exactly how much better the Mexican clubs were than those from north of the border, but anyone who watched a MLS match and then tuned into a Primera Division match knew that the Mexicans were far superior. International stars were playing in the Primera, with hardly any in MLS. The American clubs could have trouble stringing passes together some weeks, while Primera clubs were playing some of the most fluid soccer in the hemisphere. While there was no doubt that the Primera was CONCACAF’s top league, it wasn’t hard to argue that the Costa Rican Primera was superior to MLS.

Then in 2008, CONCACAF dumped the sham of a Champions Cup and instituted the Champions League. There, Primera clubs got to finally prove that they were better and that is exactly what they did. The first year of the league format saw one Mexican team beat another Mexican team in the final and Primera clubs go 4-0-2 against MLS teams and outscore their American counterparts, 10-5. The next year was worse with Primera clubs going 6-0-2 by a combined score of 19-6. Mexico was still the dominant side.

There will, undoubtedly, be people who will point out that Pumas coach Guillermo Vazquez used a mostly second-choice lineup that featured three teenagers and two 20-year-olds. They will tell you that this somehow diminishes the accomplishment. Don’t let them fool you. This win counts just as much as if Pumas had used a lineup featuring every one of their starters.

I say this because up until now, no other American team has managed to win a competitive match in Mexico. Not just any MLS team, but that goes for the United States National Team, as well. I haven’t gone through every lineup of every U.S.-based team to play in Mexico, but I’m sure there were at least a few that were against equally second-choice sides. None of them had won. Until now.