Last night's World Cup qualifiers provided plenty of drama from Oslo to Kaunas and Sarajevo, but the most tense and gripping finale of the evening came from Panama City.
Los Canaleros led the US 2-1 deep into injury time, while the Mexicans were trailing 2-1 in San Jose to Costa Rica in no small part to Javier Hernandez. If Panama could hold out for the victory they would now be in a playoff with New Zealand for a place in Brazil and El Tri will be missing out on a World Cup for the first time since 1990.
Ultimately however, the Panamanians conceded twice in injury time to see their dream end in the most heartbreaking of fashions, and as a result, Mexico, who have only won two out of ten games in the final CONCACAF qualifying group, progress to face the All Whites next month.
It may have been a devastating evening to be Panamanian, but the Mexican commentators were pretty happy to to see them lose, and pretty thankful to the US for giving them a well-timed dig-out.
Keep an ear out for the moment the excitable Mexican commentator says "We love you America, we love you forever and everrrrrr!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz1XhaBT45I
The fact that the US did the Mexicans has not been lost on anybody over there, and these headlines say it all really...
via deadspin
Twitter, as one would expect, has had it's say, with #yourewelcomemexico trending stateside.
Shouldn't Mexican food be free today in the US? #YoureWelcomeMexico #USMNT
— Heber Linares (@HeberLinares) October 16, 2013
You will see the best cut lawns you've ever seen everywhere in America tmrw because of that win #USA #YoureWelcomeMexico ??
— Shit Soccer Guys Say (@Sht_ScrGuys_Say) October 16, 2013
FYI #usa just saved the Mexican Economy. To the tune of a cool $600 Million #yourewelcomemexico http://t.co/ZRjr4nfk6k
— Sounders Nation (@SounderNation) October 16, 2013