Summary: Prior to being traded to Los Angeles Galaxy earlier this summer, defensive midfielder Pablo Mastroeni spent 12 productive seasons in Colorado where he collected team records in both appearances and starts while leading the Rapids to its first MLS Cup title in 2010, yet that only begins to tell half the story of his accomplishments as a player as we look back at the USA-Mexico rivalry. The owner of 65 appearances with the US National Team, Pablo is part of an American team that has progressed the furthest in a World Cup final in the modern era, as he was a starter for each of the most important matches in 2002 as improbable results just seemed to arrive with each big test - first with Portugal, and then with rivals Mexico in the knockout rounds. We examine that team a bit more in detail, the characters, the emergence of that Mexico rivalry at a critical point on the biggest stage and how that edition of the national team began to shape the type of sporting personalities in the sport for the United States. We also examine the key piece of the Los Angeles juggernaut seeking its third straight MLS Cup title, a bit of bittersweet history with a Miami Fusion team that is gone but not forgotten amongst fans from the early years of Major League Soccer and how that intertwined with tragic events of 9-11 both locally and nationally as this was also a period of contraction for the league. Then, we turn one last corner into the most infamous photoshoot in US Soccer history and some surprising answers soon edge toward the surface.
