Amazing night in Mexico City: RSL, ridiculous rain, implausible comebacks

Also file under: You had to see it to believe it

You may not care about CONCACAF Champions League. We chewed up that ground last week.

And you may not care about Real Salt Lake.

But if you just want to hear about a fascinating night, you should know about the crazy-whack events last night down in Mexico City. I turned on RSL’s group stage match against Cruz Azul (a very good Mexican team) as the second half began.

This contest was instantly ridiculous due to the volume of rain. Huge puddles on the field made actual soccer impossible. RSL’s usual tidy passing game was back in the locker room, safe and dry. This match was unrecognizable as real professional soccer – no pun intended.

Someone call that funny Daniel Tosh fellow. He needs to show this madcap scene on Tosh.0.

But soon enough RSL was ahead 3-1 and I see the night for what it is. The story here isn’t the weather – the story here is historical achievement.

“This is huge,” I’m thinking! No MLS team has ever won in Mexico. The league’s collective record is 0-19-2 south of the border.  So I watch a little more, then I go fetch my laptop. Why? Well, because I plan to write in my little blog about this historic event, of course.

Jason Kreis said he was taking his team down there to win. They weren’t going to “park the bus,” and hope for the best as some MLS sides have when facing Mexican opposition south of the border.  And it was working! This bold gambit has paid handsome dividends. Seriously, this was history in the making.

I’m thinking to myself, “This kind of huge win could be an enormous confidence boost, a super-fuel injection of belief to a team that already feels pretty good about itself.” These are the league champs, after all, and this match may see them leapfrog the Galaxy, Columbus and Dallas for good as the odds-on favorite this year.

I turn on the laptop and start limbering up the fingers.

Uh … hang on a minute. Cruz Azul just scored. And the Cementeros seem to be figuring out how to mitigate the terrible conditions. Meanwhile, Kreis’ water-logged troops seems to have lost the initiative; they seem to be bunkering into a protective stance. But they should be OK in the end. They still have a lead, after all.

But Cruz Azul scores again! Now it’s 3-3.

I close the laptop.

Still, a tie down in Mexico City is a worthwhile achievement for Javier Morales, Kyle Beckerman, Nick Rimando, etc. It may ring a wee bit hollow after holding a two-goal lead, but it’s a night of accomplishment nonetheless. We’re into the 89^th minute by now, so surely this is how it will end.

But Cruz Azul scores again. Ruh-row!

I put the laptop away.

Now I’m thinking something totally different: “What a crushing defeat!”  Is this a match that could send the RSL confidence into the toilet? Group A in Champions League is no pushover; it’s probably the toughest foursome overall. “Maybe they don’t even get out of group play,” I think. What a bummer. If they aren’t careful, this could derail everything. This could degrade their work in league play, too.

Then, Real Salt Lake, out of no-where, a team that had barely threatened at one end for 10 minutes while falling completely apart at the other end, somehow found a goal! Will Johnson scored!

It’s 4-4!  Now a sure win that turned into a tie that would feel like a loss … that had devolved into a crushing loss … had evolved into a tie that would feel like a win! What a turn of events!

I reached over for the laptop again.

But I should have know better. Rookie mistake! I hadn’t felt so silly since I finished up that PR consulting work for BP a couple months back.

One more goal, a fourth from Javier Orozco, had provided Cruz Azul with a 5-4 margin that would stand.

I’ve seen thousands of soccer games. Literally. But I’ll surely remember this one for a long, long time.

I pushed the laptop away. I grabbed the phone instead and texted RSL’s PR director. “Good Lord. That’s all I can say about that.”

He responded soon in agreement. He used a couple of different words.

“It almost feels like the game wasn’t real,” RSL midfielder Ned Grabavoy told the MLSSoccer cameras afterward. “Especially the last 10 minutes.”

But it was. The video evidence is here. The weak and feeble may want to avert their eyes.

RSL post-game reactions are here.