Not even a questionable call.

Unfrigginbelievable.

By all accounts, the game between Mexico and Panama last night was a nasty affair, culminating in one of the most bizarre displays by a manager I have ever seen.

Mexican coach Javier Aguirre tries to trip up Panama’s Ricardo Philips as he makes a run down the line in front of the Mexican bench, which led to a lot of pushing and shoving by the players and a barrage of debris from the fans.

Aguirre, to his credit, took full responsibility in the post game press conference.

“I’d like to apologize to everyone involved with the Mexican national team,” Aguirre said during a post-match conference. “I shouldn’t have come out of my designated area. I deserved the red card. I honestly regret it. I think the ref did the right thing.”

Still, regardless of how contrite Aguirre was, CONCACAF will no doubt be investigating and I would not be surpsied to see further action taken against the Mexican coach.

I cannot see how the CSA can deny the man the top job. With Canada’s 1-0 win over El Salvador tonight, Hart has strung together 4 wins for the nats. Dale Mitchell couldn’t string together 4 wins as a coach, never mind consecutively. I could be wrong about this, but by my account Hart has a record of 9-1-4 with the MNT.

So, CSA. When the time comes to announce the man who will lead the troops into 2014, I believe the choice is becoming quite obvious.

About tonight’s game – it was a fantastic performance all around, especially in the midfield. We must have had 70% of the possession in the first half with Hutch, De Guzman and Patrice Bernier bringing their A games. Julian must have known a few extra eyes from the Metro area would be on him tonight what with all the buzz about the TFC contract offer and he certainly did not disappoint with a stellar performance .

Once again CONCACAF”s most lethal weapon Ali Gerba poached the goal after a sloppy clearance by El Salvador. I don’t know how he does it, but he just scores goals. Period. The rest of his game is no screaming hell, but when it comes to bending the twine, the guy gets the job done.

Again, the back was solid with Jakovic and McKenna, and we got decent wing play from Johnson and Simpson. Of the two, I think Johnson has a bit more flair and creativity than Simpson, who does have the speed andgle down pretty well. But in Will you can see the genesis of a very good player forming. He and Diesel work well together on the right. Johnson is able enough going back to give Stalteri some room to overlap and push up, adding to the attack. Sure, Johnson could have done better on his finish (as could many of our players), but I think Will is going to be a crucial part of the nats for a long time to come.

I was glad to see Hutch have a stellar game. I rate him highly, his work in the midfield often overshadowed by JDG, and it was nice to see him so visible tonight. He could have also been more lethal with his finishing – I counted at least 2 occasions where he should have taken the shot and instead tried to pull an Arsenal and go for one more pass – but there is no doubt that when he is on his game our midfield purrs.

Sutton did the job in the pipes, not really being pressured by many decent shots by El Salvador. But like against Jamaica, the ball seemed to go from his feet/hands directly to opposition players a bit too often for my liking.

Still, that seems like minor nitpicking when we have 2 wins and 6 points under our belt and a date with the Ticos on Friday.

Here’s a post game interview by V’s Max Bell with Julian De Guzman. Catch more interviews on the V’s YouTube channel.

More coverage

• Canada picks up second clean sheet from the 24th Minute
• The boys at SCGWAS are drunk and asking the same question – WHY!?!?!?!
• Gian-Luca rebukes the notion that the Gold Cup is meaningless over at The Voyageurs

• He chose to start Sutton over Wagenaar in goal because he felt Sutton could handle the Jamiaca crosses and set pieces better. But he stressed both keepers were excellent in training.
• He thought the back line played well.
• Canada did better in the first, but faded int he second and gave the ball away too much.
• On the goal, the finish by Gerba was fantastic and the build up was very good.
• He started with a 4-3-3 to try to get wide penetration, but it ended up as a 4-5-1 as the flanks could not penetrate.