The United States and Mexico national soccer teams will play more important games in November than when they meet each other Saturday in Pasadena.
Next month when the U.S. plays St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Mexico take on El Salvador, those matches will be part of World Cup 2018 qualifying.
Saturday’s U.S.-Mexico encounter, on the other hand, will be to determine a regional champion who will advance to a pre-World Cup tournament in 2017.
In other words, it will be like two people playing a game of rock-paper-scissors to determine who will be the designated driver to a dry pre-party.
But there might be a way to add some real weight to a relatively meaningless (despite what promoters will tell you) game.
At this stage it may be too late to work out details but in this age of social media and virality maybe deals and wagers can be brokered at the last minute.
If the United States beats Mexico Saturday, the United States can shift half of its foreign aid to Mexico (more than $250 million in 2013) to contractors who can finish building a 2,000 mile wall along the southern border of the two countries, and to drug cartel fighting endeavors like Project Gunrunner and Operation Fast and Furious. (Never mind that the wall would do nothing to realistically stop the flow of migrants to the United States or that Operation Fast and Furious actually put guns into the hands of drug dealers on both sides of the border, the point is that everyone on the political right would feel good about themselves because finally something was being done about immigration and drug dealers, and the political left would no longer have to listen to the right’s caterwauling.)
On the other hand, if Mexico wins, the U.S. must deliver presidential candidate Donald Trump — sans passport, money, cellphone and ID — to Mexico (Sinaloa, perhaps) and allow him to work his capitalist magic in the south.
The real estate magnate and job creator could then use his genius and wit to build his own empire south of the border while, at the same time, making Mexico great again.
Should Trump decide he’d rather make a better life for himself in the U.S. than Mexico, by terms of the wager they could do nothing to prevent his return (though it would be intriguing to see how Trump would cross the border north without the proper paperwork).
Realizing it may be too late to get the wheels in motion to make this bet happen we may have to pursue it in the future. Something tells me Trump and the immigration and drug debate, will not be going anywhere for a long time.
In the meantime fans of the U.S.A. or Mexico will have to settle on bragging rights pending the outcome of Saturday’s game.
