Bill Simmons attended the recent USA-Mexico World Cup qualifying match in Mexico City. Afterwards, he wrote an excellent piece on the incredible pride and emotions of soccer at this level, and even included a couple of TD/Spurs (and LeBron) references: It comes down to a catalyst and a mindset; if you're missing both, you can't pull it off. In basketball, think of the teams that play beautifully together (like Duncan's Spurs or Nash's pre-Shaq Suns) versus stagnant offenses that stand around watching their best player go one-on-four (like LeBron's Cavs). The second TD reference was when Simmons waxed eloquently about Jozy Altidore, the young, talented USA forward: Jozy made his bones in the Confederations Cup, where he posted up a Spanish defender like Tim Duncan, hauled a long pass into his body, shielded the same defender, whirled around (and inadvertently flung the defender to the ground by sheer force), then whipped a bullet by Spain's goalkeeper for a game-altering goal. If you saw it, you remember it, a LeBron-like, uber-athletic moment for an American team normally habitated by realistically talented, ultimately forgettable athletes. One point of disagreement: the USA is actually better than Mexico, as has been proven over the last few years. Of course, in Mexico there is a lot more passion for their team, but as Simmons indicates maybe the times are finally changing in the US as well. Well worth the read.