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USA vs. Mexico Countdown: Not Voodoo again?

MexicanVoodooDoll (AP) 

The fun never ends in the USA-Mexico rivalry.

You remember the story a few weeks ago about a Mexican sports newspaper and Radio Shack store in Mexico City giving away voodoo dolls that were supposed to help the Mexican national team finally beat the U.S. team on American soil? Well, Radio Shack (a U.S.-based company) pulled the plug on the promotion, putting an end to it. Right?

Wrong. The same newspaper, The Record, has teamed up with Blockbuster on a new voodoo doll promotion. Readers of the newspaper can trade in coupons for the cheap dolls that you see above, and the dolls come with instructions to stick pins in the dolls where Mexican fans want to hurt American players. You really can't make this stuff up.

Now here are my questions:

1. Blockbuster is still in business?

2. When did the U.S. national team start wearing knock-off New York Rangers jerseys?

3. Is this starting to get embarrassing for Mexico's players?

What do you think of this latest story? Waiting for the first American newspaper to come up with a similar promotion here in the U.S.? Ready to go protest a Blockbuster (if you can find one)? Does the above doll look more like Alexi Lalas the more you look at it?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. After all that Christian fails to mention how almost all of the Americans he mentioned are retired from International football. I’ll give you it was an immigrant team in that past, but you’re a joke if you don’t see the difference now.

    Plus he didn’t mention the fact that the Castillo was born in the U.S. and is playing for Mexico…don’t see that on the other side.

    Reply
  2. Just submitted to Blockbuster comments:

    I understand that Blockbuster is running a promotion in Mexico to support the Mexican National football (soccer) team in its upcoming important World Cup Qualifying match against the United States. Apparently, you are providing voodoo dolls of US team players and encouraging Mexican fans to stick pins in them where the fans want to injure them. It is really hard to believe that a US based company would do something this stupid and offensive to fans of the US National Team. Can you imagine a US company running a promotion that gave people in other countries the opportunity to get Michael Phelps/drowning, Shawn Johnson/break your leg, or a Kobe Bryant/break your arm voo doo doll leading up to the Olympics? You should have known better after this same promotion backfired on Radio Shack several weeks ago. The only reason that this is not all over the national press is because soccer does not get the coverage that it should in the US. Fortunately, US soccer fans stick together and have a strong network. You owe the US National Team and its fans a huge apology. I hope that your promotion backfires and that you lose as bad the Mexican team will in this week’s important game. I, for one, will do my part — as I am swearing off Blockbuster forever and looking into Netflix for the first time, and I will be forwarding this short rant to enough people to make a difference.

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  3. I might be in the minority, but I don’t mind this at all. Yeah, it’s pretty funny to me, but I don’t find it offensive enough to do something like boycott Blockbuster (I’m sure the current economic climate, downloading, and netflix will put them under soon enough).

    I kind of look at this as a long running saga. I’ve had people that I flat out know don’t like football ask me if this is real or not.

    The word is getting out. The more the word gets out, the more people watch the game, and the more heated the rivalry gets. The more people that watch, the better the chance that I can have a chance to commute to a World Cup game in my lifetime, rather than settling for stumbling into pubs or screaming at TVs at two in the morning.

    I like the big picture.

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  4. mexican nat teams fans have to be some of the most ill informed fans on the planet. it is a joy listening to the BS that comes out of their mouths, and what is even funnier . . . they are dumb enough to actually believe it.

    just as an FYI, a person born in the USA is an american . . . just as american as anyone else.

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  5. LOL no worries Scott.

    Hopefully we’ll see a good game on wednesday but I have a feeling we’ll get a dull 1-1 or 2-1 match.

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  6. Oh, and as for your suggestion that some of these recent US Nats fans are fairweather or recent….I was rooting for the US with my heart in my throat when I was in kindergarten

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  7. Christiannnnn you’re dancing around the one point I was trying to make. Nearly all of the names you mentioned from the U.S. are inactive and from more than 10 years ago. I know that’s not an eon, but I’m trying to say that the U.S. program doesn’t really do it anymore and the Mexican program has just started. There were some pretty silly citizenship sagas for the U.S. team in the ’90s, but this isn’t the ’90s anymore. Our squad is currently a lot more homegrown than yours. But ya know, I feel bad giving you such a hard time, your February 12th is gonna be such a crappy day 😉

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  8. Most American players weren’t around until right before the 94 wc. You had the players, and still do, you just think they’re of the quality needed. Again, it’s a different beast. You say “pot meet kettle”, I say “Apple meet Orange”

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  9. Ayala, Leandro, and Zinha have all been in Mexico for at least 10 years. Franco lives in Monterrey in the offseason. Vuoso is the relative newcomer having only lived in Mexico for 5 years.

    David Regis lived in the US for how long before he was capped by the US?

    It’s extremely hypocritical of US fans to bring such things up but then again most of the US fans around here weren’t around 5 years ago, let alone 10.

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  10. Scott:

    Most of the players I mentioned are from the last 10-15 years.

    Leandro, Vuoso and Ayala have all been called in by Sven over the past 6 months and between them they have less than 10 caps.

    Only three were called in for the US – Mexico game.

    David Regis became a citizen weeks before the 98 WC. That was only 10 years ago.

    Don’t sugarcoat it. I don’t mind the ribbing but at least let’s be realistic about the situation.

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  11. Christian, people aren’t arguing that countries shouldn’t call up nationalized players; both the U.S. and Mexico have done it. Calling players into the national team when they only recently have lived in that country is an admission of weakness in certain areas of the team. The point that you’re ignoring is that nearly all of the U.S. examples you gave are players from before this era, while the Mexico players are still very much active. It’s an interesting change in trends……and one you better bet U.S. fans are going to rip into Mexico fans about

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  12. I’m getting my hands on one of those dolls, inserting a D cell battery and when I visit Azteca later this summer,.. chucking the thing directly at whoever is taking corners for El Tri.

    Good luck putos!

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  13. Not sure why my last comment wasn’t published but here it goes again.

    Dooley has over 80 caps for the US and the guy didn’t even step foot on US soil until right before the 94 WC when he was discovered by USSF, he was 24 years old at the time. I won’t even mention the David Regis saga.

    I’m just pointing this out to people like Martha who are upset about Luciano Emilio turning down here native Honduras.

    It’s ridiculous to point out such things as foreign born players when it’s just a sign of globalization.

    “pot meet kettle”

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  14. I feel bad for Alexi, he is going to be extremely sore on Wednesday. However, Donovan, Dempsey, and Beasley will be just fine scoring hat tricks. Lets go U.S.A.!!!

    This is embarrassing for MNT, and hopefully the U.S.A. won’t resort to such tactics. I am, however, waiting for a U.S. company to try to cash in on this. However, soccer is not as popular here as it is there so we will probably just come with our SBI BANNER!!!

    GO USA

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  15. Again, Christian…

    Name: Age when coming to America, Age at first Cap…

    Adu: 8, 16

    Stewart: Admittedly born and raised elsewhere, but his parents were Americans, thus he was American by birth, 22 (best I can tell)

    Thorrington: Same as Stewart, but in South Africa, 21

    Dooley: Born to American father, admittedly late to the party at 31

    Llamosa: Emigrated at the age of 21 to join his family, before we had a soccer league, 28

    Feilhaber: 6, 22 (Also turned down an offer from Austria to be naturalized in order to fight to earn a spot on the US side)

    Perez: 11, 21

    Holden: 10/11, I believe still waiting on his first cap due to injury

    Kinnear: 3, 21

    Cunningham: 14, Citizen at 15, Cap at 16

    Ramos: 11, 21

    Mastroeni: 4, 24

    Now the same for the Mexicans…

    Cabalerro: Moved at 24, Naturalized at 30, Capped at 30

    Naelson: Moved at 19, Naturalized later (cant find when), Capped at 28

    Vuoso: Moved at 22 (After time in the Argentine league and the EPL), Naturalized apparently during the Sanchez coaching era, First cap at 26

    Franco: Moved at 26 (After six years in the Argentine league), Naturalized that year, can’t find exactly when his first cap was, but it was obviously after that

    Ayala: Moved at 21, First cap at 30. Never played in any other league.

    Augusto: Moved at 24 (Time in Brazillian league), First cap at age 30.

    Sorry for the length, but the point is, it’s not quite the same thing here…

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  16. I agree to an extent with the people calling out Martha C. They have passports, so who cares…besides the Mexican media, of course.

    But also, none of those people you name, Christian, came to the United States to play soccer; they came because their parents got green cards when the players were little kids.

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  17. As always, their ego will always be there downfall. They can take their voodoo dolls and shove them where the sun doesn’t shine.

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  18. By the way, those were the only foreign born US players that I could think of.

    I’m sure there are more and Martha, my sincere apologies on the state of Guatemalan soccer. It’s a shame that you guys suck so much.

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  19. Adu
    Stewart
    Thorrington
    Dooley
    Llamosa
    Feilhaber
    Perez
    Holden
    Kinnear
    Cunningham
    Ramos
    Mastroeni

    vs

    Caballero-8 caps
    Naelson-44 caps
    Vuoso-6 caps
    Franco-12 caps
    Ayala-1 cap
    Leandro- 2 caps

    Add it up and you get 73 caps, not to mention that Vuoso, Ayala, and Leandro have all been called in by Sven.

    Mastroeni alone has 62 caps. ’nuff said.

    Regarding the voodoo doll, it’s quite obvious that it’s a marketing gimmick by a Mexican newspaper and doesn’t the average Mexican fan practices black magic.

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  20. I like how luis mex and kemoslice are all DONT BE SO SERIOUS. You know damn well if Blockbuster and Radioshack gave out voodoo dolls of the Mexican team in the USA, they would get in so much trouble and be called racists lol.

    Reply

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