Reaction?

–Man, what a butt-kicking. And on U.S. soil, too.

–That’s the kind of score you can get when you send out the JVs to face the varsity.

Mexico fans can gloat, and they are entitled. It ended Mexico’s 11-match winless streak (0-9-2) vs. the Yanqis on American turf, and was Mexico’s biggest victory over the Americans since a 7-2 spanking in 1957 (right here in Long Beach, Calif.). It was the worst defeat of any sort, for the U.S., since a 5-0 pummeling at the hands of England, in 1985. And 1985 is practically pre-history, when it comes to U.S. soccer.

So, yeah, Mexico fans. Celebrate.

But I doubt you will do it with real enthuasiasm, nor for very long. Because Mexico fans are smart enough to know that was the U.S. second/third string out there in East Rutherford, N.J. … while Mexico fielded a team made up of several national-team regulars as well as breakout star midfielder Giovani dos Santos.

The long-range ramifications of the Gold Cup championship match?

1. Mexico may recover some of its pride and self-confidence, after rolling through the Gold Cup. (Though Costa Rica took El Tri to a shootout in the semis.) And maybe that will energize what has been, to date, a stunningly lackluster World Cup qualifying campaign.

If Mexico wins at home vs. the U.S. on Aug. 12, its World Cup credentials will appear in order, and the idea of Mexico not getting one of the three guaranteed regional berths into South Africa 2010 will seem vaguely preposterous. Though the concept seemed real enough through five matches that included Mexico road defeats vs. the U.S., Honduras and (yes) El Salvador. Mexico sits fourth in the standings, behind Costa Rica, the U.S. and Honduras, one slot shy of the third guaranteed trip to South Africa. But three of Mexico’s final five qualifiers are in Azteca, where Mexico almost never loses, and by winning those three it would have 15 points — which ought to be enough to move ahead of Honduras, anyway.

2. Just about any U.S. player involved in that 5-0 mess just had his national-team career severely impacted.

It actually was something of an odd match. Much closer than the final score would indicate. It was scoreless until the 57th minute, and observers seemed to believe the U.S. was playing slightly better — until the Jamaican referee called a foul in the box and awarded Mexico a penalty that Gerardo Torrado converted. And then the largely green Americans got desperate to get even, and gave up counter-attack goals like crazy, and that’s how you get to 5-0.

Yes, it’s hard to keep your defense in order when you’re chasing the game. But a veteran team, a savvy team, manages it. Well, usually.

it certainly doesn’t give up four more goals in less than 30 minutes.

The meltdown that ensued is going to tar every U.S. player involved in it. You don’t collapse like that and escape blame. Stuart Holden, Robbie Rogers, Chad Marshall, Kyle Beckerman, Troy Perkins, even Heath Pearce … all the good they did, all the brownie points they accrued in getting to the final … was wiped out by that 5-0 final score.

No question, these were almost entirely young and internationally inexperienced players. Seven guys who played for the U.S. got their first cap, in this tournament; six scored their first goal for the U.S.

Several of them seemed to be making strong cases for a serious look with the national team in serious matches. Holden and Marshall, in particular.

But, now? Forget it. You were there when “5-0” happened. Check back with us in the run-up to 2014.

U.S. coach Bob Bradley now will happily go right back to the veterans who got to the Confederations Cup final and led Brazil 2-0 at halftime. And none of those guys (aside from Charlie Davies) played even one minute in the Gold Cup.

Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard, Carlos Bocanegra, Oguchi Onyewu, Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark, Jonathan Spector, Jozy Altidore … c’mon down. There is a real match to be played, Aug. 12, in Mexico’s capital.

OK, one guy on the pitch Sunday in East Rutherford might have a chance to be invited into training for the World Cup qualifier, and that is Brian Ching. But off of what he did before the Gold Cup.

A couple more questions to kick around, before the 2009 Gold Cup is relegated to the dust bin of history, where it belongs, are these:

–Why is the Gold Cup played every two years? Let’s make this a quadrennial event, and play it between World Cups. The way the Europeans handle their championship. Hence, the next Gold Cup should be in 2012.

–And why is the Gold Cup scheduled in the same year as the Confederations Cup? The long U.S. run in the Confederations Cup, an event much more significant than the Gold Cup, guaranteed that the top American XI would not be in the Gold Cup. Bob Bradley sent them home — or back to their MLS club teams — for good reason. They were tired, and they had just played four matches against elite global competition (Brazil twice, Italy and Spain) — and five matches, total — in 14 days. Those guys didn’t need the rinky-dink matches that are the early stages of the Gold Cup — which started less than a week after the Confederations Cup ended.

The final point: This U.S. team did well to get to the final. And then it was exposed by a fairly serious Mexico team.

The end.