Mexico national team veteran Rafa Marquez may be on the cusp of playing in his fifth World Cup, but an incident that helped mark his career way back in 2002 comes with no regrets.
At that year's World Cup, Marquez attacked the US national team's Cobi Jones in the closing minutes of the teams' Round of 16 match, and was sent off for his flying kick and head butt. The game, won by an upstart USMNT group, 2-0, gave El Tri and Marquez a black eye after crashing out once again in the first knockout round of the World Cup, a run they haven't been able to break in subsequent years, either.
But while Marquez doesn't regret his actions, he told ESPN reporter John Sutcliffe he learned how to better deal with his emotions.
"My act of frustration would've never changed the score if it hadn't have happened and I don't regret it," Marquez said in an interview with Sutcliffe, as translated by ESPN. "I learned from it. Not controlling [myself] and not being able to lose is part of my character."
You can read all of Marquez's reflections on the incident, and the larger Mexico-US rivalry, over at ESPN.
