The U.S. team (unlike FIFA which lets host countries dictate broadcast rights, which led to the stupid blackout) is very much living in the 21st century.  This is the sixth consecutive World Cup berth for the Americans – which means that this generation of U.S. players can’t even remember a time when  U.S. didn’t make it to the world’s biggest and best sporting event. 

The last time they held a World Cup without the USA was in Mexico in 1986. Argentina won that World Cup  (Maradona’s team beat Germany in the final; the famous “Hand of God” victory over England was a quarterfinal game).

I have no idea how the U.S. team will fare in South Africa next summer. This is a team that has looked, at times, lackadaisical and confused (in qualifying earlier this year and early Confederations Cup) or brilliant (against Spain and the first half against Brazil in Confed Cup).

It has several experienced players. But experience doesn’t seem to serve the U.S. team particularly well in the World Cup. In 1994, a team full of novices did pretty well as the home hosts. Four years later, those players were more experienced and expectations were higher – and the U.S. team imploded in France, finishing last in the field.  

The best performance in the modern era came in 2002 in South Korea. Again the team was largely inexperienced, the result of turnover in the four year cycle. Bruce Arena had the team he wanted and the U.S. made it to the quarterfinals, where the Americans narrowly lost to Germany.  That set the stage for high expectations in Italy – players like Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley were more seasoned, Arena had been on the job for four years.  But, despite an exciting tie against eventual champion Italy, the U.S. didn’t play very well.  Germany – a fantastic World Cup overall – was a big letdown for the Americans.

Who knows what to predict now? Bob Bradley hasn’t seem to be a particularly inspired leader, yet he’s coaxed some excellent performances out of his team. Tim Howard is a world class keeper. There is some exciting young talent on the team like Jozy Altidore and Charlie Davies.

And then there’s Donovan. Donovan – who has waffled in his apparent commitment to his sport over the years – seems to be a changed player and one now determined to fulfill his potential as the best American player in history. The change is a result of several things: maturity, the weird anger and pressure involved in playing with Beckham on the Galaxy (by the way, Grant Wahl’s book “The Beckham Experiment” is an excellent read), and now Donovan has an impending divorce from his wife.  Donovan was always seeking domestic bliss and comfort and seemed unable to balance soccer ambitions with his personal life. Now he seems to be all in. And he’s magic on the field right now.

Donovan, one of the older players on the team, was four years old the last time the Americans didn’t make the World Cup. Bet he doesn’t even remember. Onto South Africa.

The other form of football was being played: Mexico took on Nicaragua in the first round of the Gold Cup, a 12-team regional soccer tournament.

And while the dreary Coliseum was more crowded and livelier than it has been in a long time, it still wasn’t full. The crowd that watched Mexico defeat Nicaragua 2-0 was 32,057 — the kind of gathering the A’s would swoon for — but it wasn’t capacity.

Mexico boasts perhaps the most enthusiastic soccer fans in the world, and its team usually draws 45,000-plus when it plays in Oakland. The diminished crowd might be a referendum on the economy. That’s what Mexico Coach Javier Aguirre thinks.

“It’s very difficult right now with a world crisis in the economy,” Aguirre snapped when he was pestered about the size of the crowd.

Or the lack of a sellout could be a sign of the frustration and concern Mexican fans feel over their beloved El Tri.

Mexico is a team in crisis, and a 2-0 victory over Nicaragua, a nation that cares far more about baseball than soccer and one fielding a team more amateur than professional, isn’t going to assuage any concerns.

Mexico is in fourth place in the region’s World Cup qualifying standings, one point behind Honduras but only one point ahead of El Salvador in fifth place. Only the top three teams are guaranteed a trip to South Africa next summer. The fourth-place finisher faces a playoff with the fifth-place team from South America, a far stronger region than this one.

These Gold Cup games are fine, but what the Mexican fans really worry about is the World Cup. Mexico has qualified for four consecutive World Cups.

“I’m not thinking of the World Cup right now,” Aguirre said. “The only thinking I’m thinking about is the Gold Cup. The Gold Cup only.”

Mexico’s fans don’t share that single-mindedness. They’re concerned about the five remaining World Cup qualifiers — especially the one next month against the United States at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, where the Americans have never won. A few Mexican reporters told me Sunday that they sense that Mexican fans believe the U.S. team — 0-22-1 in Mexico — will beat El Tri. It would be not only a setback in the standings, but also a psychological disaster.

Aguirre knows as well as anyone how devastating a loss to the United States can be. Once the savior of Mexican soccer in 2002, when he took over the team and guided it through a rocky qualifying process, Aguirre was fired after his team lost to the United States in the second round of that World Cup.

Now he’s back. The Mexican national team shares more with the Raiders than just the occasional game in Oakland. El Tri has run through coaches at a rapid and dysfunctional pace. Aguirre is its fifth coach since the 2006 World Cup.

Embattled coach Ricardo Lavolpe stepped down after that tournament, and was replaced by playing legend Hugo Sanchez. Sanchez was ousted after the under-23 squad failed to qualify for the 2008 Olympics. He was replaced by interim Jesus Ramirez, who was soon replaced by Sven-Goran Eriksson, a spectacularly bad fit. Eriksson was ousted in April, after losing to Honduras in qualifying, and replaced by Aguirre.

Since Aguirre took over, Mexico is 1-1 in World Cup qualifying and still struggling. After a draw with Guatemala last month in a friendly in San Diego, the team was booed off the field. Sunday’s victory was unconvincing, spurred by a dubious call that resulted in a penalty kick at the end of the first half and fortified by a late second-half goal.

In keeping with Mexico’s woes, Carlos Vela, who plays for Arsenal, left the game in the 11th minute after suffering a lower-leg injury. He was taken from the field in an ambulance, although Aguirre insisted that was just a precaution.

“I think we can gain some confidence from the win,” said Giovani Dos Santos, who plays for Tottenham in the English Premier League and was the man of the match Sunday.

Maybe they can take something from it. When the team left the field, the crowd was cheering. So that made it a good day for Mexico.