US national team midfielder Graham Zusi reached international hero status on Tuesday night when his stoppage-time goal to tie Panama erased a miserable Hexagonal qualifying campaign for Mexico, giving the USMNT's fiercest rival one last chance to qualify for next summer's World Cup in Brazil.
The reactions of El Tri fans in the minutes and hours following Zusi's inadvertent heroics, some captured in these Internet memes, swept across the Internet like a tidal wave. Even television broadcasters kneeled at the feet of the USMNT and hailed them as heroes and saviors. Zusi is shooting for free vacations for life, and maybe he should get them.
Now back with his club team, Sporting Kansas City, Zusi was recognized on Thursday as the savior of Mexico's World Cup dreams by a small group of El Tri fans, spearheaded by local Spanish-language radio station La Gran D, at the club's training facility.
Zusi was presented with the following framed photo — the Saint Zusi meme spawned on Tuesday night — and a plaque of thanks from La Gran D on behalf of all Mexican soccer fans.
And then this happened.
That's an Internet photoshop meme, turned real life and this is now beyond our comprehension of awesomeness.
