#1 of 40

By: Chris | March 31st, 2007

Something cool overheard during tonight’s Atlas-Cruz Azul match:

Pablo Ramirez and Jesus Bracamontes mentioned that somebody asked Jared Borgetti which of his 40 goals with the national team was his favorite, and the answer put a big smile on my face.

2002 World Cup vs. Italy

This is one of those goals where I’ll always remember where I was when I saw it.

Flashback to 2002: I was living in Guadalajara at the time and World Cup fever was immense. Mexico had won their first two group games for the first time in their history and faced Italy needing only a draw to advance to the Round of 16.

There was a small bar/restaurant around the corner from the house in which I was living, so my roommate and I woke ourselves up about 4 a.m. to get there. It was another rainy morning in Guadalajara and we were supposed to meet our Colombian professor there. He ended up showing up late, as hardly any taxis run when it’s raining because they don’t have defrosters.

So we straggle in there and take a seat in front of the big screen. Slowly but surely, our professor and a few others show up, dreary-eyed and searching for the nearest coffee.

Everyone was still in a haze when Borgetti did his thing. I remember everyone jumping up because I don’t remember the ball going into the net. I couldn’t believe that he could score from that angle with a header.

An Alessandro del Piero goal in the second half gave the Italians the tie, but it didn’t matter. With Mexico finishing on top of the group, nobody cared. You’d have thought Mexico had just won the World Cup as we passed the Glorieta Minerva on the way to school and saw the hundreds of people celebrating.

I watch the replay of the goal nowadays and still can’t believe it. It’ll always take me back to that moment on a rainy early morning with a bunch of mexicanos wondering what two gringos were doing there.