How happy must Hugo Sanchez be?

A week after they lost the Gold Cup final to the United States, his side have beaten Brazil 2-0.

No doubt some will belittle the win citing the absense of Ronaldinho and Kaka in the Brazillian lineup. Everyone seems to like making excuses for Brazil. If they don't win there always seems to be some reason for it, and, clearly, if things had been as they should be, Brazil would have been victorious.

That's absolute garbage. If you're really a football powerhouse you're dangerous regardless of who is playing. So what if fat diva Ronaldinho wants a break? Or that Kaka feels too tired after his club efforts?

I think players should always make themselves available to their country. It's an honour to represent your nation, and asking to be excused from serving demonstrates a certain disrespect.

But that's kind of what I expect from Brazillian superstars. They seem to buy into their own hype and sense of importance. Frankly, I've seldom been impressed by any of them.

Even Pele seems to expect everyone to bow down to him, years after the fact. A wonderful documentary film about the NY Cosmos was recently made. Obviously, Pele was central to the story, but he refused to be involved unless he was compensated $100,000. The film is fantastic, but it's a documentary. It consists of interviews and old archive footage. It's not some multi-million dollar Hollywood movie that had potential to make everyone involved boatloads of cash. Franz Beckenbauer didn't have any problem being involved, and he seems to have fun reminiscing about his time with the Cosmos.

So I'm quite happy that Mexico put Brazil in their place. I'm bored with the years of the presumed footballing superiority of Brazil. It's time for them to earn those bragging rights, and if this start to their Copa America campaign is any indication, it's not going to happen. Argentina has to be the favourite to win the tournament now. We'll see how the US does against them today.