The United States' performance in World Cup Qualifiers Tuesday night was academic from their perspective, but very, very, very, very important from the perspective of Panama and Mexico. A USA win or draw saved Mexico, their biggest rival, from falling out of contention for a last-ditch hope of saving a World Cup berth by setting up an intercontinental playoff with New Zealand, while Panama needed to win and needed Mexico to lose.
It ended with pandemonium. Mexico appeared to have knocked themselves out by going behind to Costa Rica and the Americans trailing to Panama, but USA's pair of late goals rescued them and dashed the Panamanians' hopes.
The person running the US Soccer twitter feed obviously knew this, and oh, did they troll to perfection:
#YoureWelcomeMexico @miseleccionmx
— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) October 16, 2013
#YoureWelcomeMexico
But it got better:
Mexico spared through no real effort of their own. Now a chance to snag some frequent flier miles before the holidays with a trip to NZL!
— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) October 16, 2013
SPORTS TWITTER ACCOUNTS ACROSS THE WORLD: THIS IS HOW YOU TROLL. WITHOUT EVEN A MODICUM OF RESPECT AND WITH ALL THE SMUGNESS.
And it gets better:
Do your part, #USMNT fans! RT @NZ_Football: Grab the last few seats for #AllWhites v Mexico in Wellington on 11/20 http://t.co/fPE1b2Bvzx
— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) October 16, 2013
YES, AMERICAN FANS: BUY THOSE TICKETS TO CHEER ON NEW ZEALAND.
Thanks for following tonight, #USMNT fans! We'll leave you with this: pic.twitter.com/gkICeI6h2M
— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) October 16, 2013