Sounds like a children’s rhyme. Has a bit of a taunting sound to it, too. I doubt anything like it is spoken in Spanish, but a certain team might be familiar with it, by now.

My “other” team, Mexico, did what they always do.

For the sixth consecutive World Cup, they survived the group stage, even though a lot of people predicted they would not (as usual).

And for the sixth consecutive World Cup, they immediately were knocked out in the round of 16.

A remarkable run of futility. In three of those six, they had a lead. Twice, they won their group and got a second-place team in the knockout phase. Twice they went to extra time, and once to a shootout. Lost ’em all.

Two issues I assume Miguel Herrera, the demonstrative coach, will be considering, in the wake of the come-from-ahead 2-1 defeat to Netherlands today:

1. “Maybe I shouldn’t have parked the bus when Giovani dos Santos scored in the 48th minute to make it 1-0.” Forty-two minutes is a very long time to defend against a good team, especially when the heat is up — and the Dutch are good. Mexico held on till the 88th minute, when one of those things that happens when a defense is tired (a rebound that no one reacted to) turned into a Wesley Sneijder goal.

2. “Perhaps I should have gone over, one more time … maybe five more times … ‘do not touch Arjen Robben when he is in the box’.  Just don’t do it. Make sure there is plenty of daylight between you, defensors, and Senor Robben when he comes flop-flop-floppin’ along. (Well, we don’t have that song in Spanish, but you get my drift.)”

Robben was sorta-maybe fouled by Rafael Marquez, who is 35 and has seen everything there is to see in soccer and should have known better, but he stepped on Robben inside the box, and the Dutchman went down like he had been shot, arms extended (as he always does) as if in supplication to heaven for being so brutally attacked.

Penalty.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar walked up and converted the penalty shot, four minutes into added time, and that was that.

Ay! Caramba!

As noted, Mexico makes a habit of going out in the round of 16. It’s not all that easy to do, losing six of them. By accident, you’d think El Tri would have won one.

Let’s rank the six, counting down, from “painful, but just for a minute” to “downright agony”.

6. 2010 South Africa: Lost to Argentina 3-1. Mexico gave up two to Carlos Tevez (my, wouldn’t he be a handy guy for the 2014 Argentina team to have) and a third to Gonzalo Higuain. This also was a team with Lionel Messi and Angel di Maria. Javier “Chicharito” Hernadez scored a consolation in the 71st. The main thing to feel bad about was losing to a team coached by Diego Maradona, who would be nuked 4-0 by Germany in the quarterfinals a few days later.

5. 1998 France: Lost 2-1 to Germany. This one hurts a bit more because Luis Hernandez’s goal in the 47th minute gave Mexico a lead it nursed for nearly a half hour, until Jurgen Klinsmann scored in the 75th minute on a hot afternoon in Montpellier. Oliver Bierhoff added the winner in the 86th minute. Would have been a great upset, but Mexico were underdogs, and once Klinsmann got the equalizer, Mexico seemed doomed.

4. 2006 Germany: Lost 2-1 to Argentina in extra time. This one was tough because, again, Mexico led, albeit briefly, on Marquez’s goal in the sixth minute. Hernan Crespo tied it four minutes later, and Maxi Rodriguez got the winner in the 98th minute. Mexico was the underdog and that was a pretty good Argentina team.

3. 1994 USA: 1-1 draw with Bulgaria, lost 3-1 in the shootout. Rough loss, considering Mexico won its group, and that was Bulgaria, not Germany or Argentina. Mexico never led, but it was tied from the 18th minute on a penalty converted by Alberto Garica Aspe. El Tri collapsed in the shooout, however. Garcia Aspe couldn’t put a shot on frame and Marcelino Bernal and Jorge Rodriguez saw their shots saved. Claudio Suarez scored on the fourth Mexico kick, but it was too late. Shootouts always sting.

2. 2002 Japan-South Korea: Lost 2-0 to the United States. Ugh. Mexico won a group with Italy, Croatia and Ecuador, one of only two times it won the group during this run of results, meaning they got a second-place team, the Yanks, who were coming off a 3-1 loss to Poland. But it turned into a nightmare. Brian McBride scored early, and Mexico chased the game for most of an hour before Landon Donovan, perhaps the Yanqui they hated most, closed it out with a header in the 65th. Rafa Marquez got himself ejected in the 88th minute, so it wasn’t like it was a dignified exit. No late-hour disappointments here, but losing 2-0 to the Americans … hard to imagine worse. Until …

1. 2014 Brazil: Lost 2-1 to Netherlands. Mexico played well for nearly all of this, and deserved to lead after 80 minutes. Then came that ball they couldn’t clear, and Sneijder banged it home, and then the dunderheaded foul by Marquez on Robben just before the whistle … and this one is packed with what-ifs. Had they won, they would have gotten Costa Rica in the quarterfinals, and the Ticos have given Mexico trouble of late, but El Tri would have been confident of victory, and then they would be in the semifinals. Ay, Chihuahua.