Last week, the question was who would be the first North American squad to win a game at World Cup 2010. Today at lunchtime on the West Coast, we got the answer. México whipped the very sad French squad 2-0 on a breakaway goal by Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez that barely missed being called offside by the assistant referee and then a well-deserved penalty that was easily put away by the indescribably old Cuauhtémoc Blanco. Technically, he is 37, which I suppose counts as a description if you want to get all mathematical about it, but you know what I mean. A very good player for a very long time, Blanco has played the lion's share of his career in México, and this makes him even more beloved in his homeland than his considerable talents merit.
So I got to see a great Mexican effort at La Estrellita, a terrific Mexican restaurant and bar. How does life get better? Las chicas, naturalmente! Three young ladies working for Budweiser came into the bar in the second half and started giving away free stuff to anyone who bought an Anheuser Busch beverage. (Not the three pictured above, but you get the idea.) I had been drinking Sam Adams for much of the game, but when there's free stuff to be had, it's remarkable how flexible my beer snobbery can be. I got a hat and some beads and a vuvuzela, one of those noisemaker horns. I gave the hat to the busboy, since he didn't get to drink and was missing out on the fun, having to work during the game.
Knowledgeable fans might gasp that I accepted the vuvuzela, a noisemaker horn being compared by some to a Satanic device. Let me set your mind at ease. One vuvuzela is like a cute little cricket. Many, many vuvzelas is like a swarm of locusts. I promise to use my new toy only for good and not for evil.
¡Viva México! Tomorrow, I root at breakfast time for my home country as well as my home continent, hoping the United States can find a way past Slovenia even with a battered Tim Howard (multiple broken ribs) minding the net.
