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Home|South Africa 2010|Travel|Guide|Groups|Group A|Mexico
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South Africa World Cup 2010 Group A: Mexico
GROUP AMexico
Road to South AfricaMexico took a rocky road to the finals and at one point the Central American giants looked like missing the boat altogether for the first time since they were disqualified from competing at Italia '90. After dispatching Belize in the CONCACAF second qualifying round, Los Tricolores began the third round with three wins but ended up scraping through to the final round on goal difference ahead of Jamaica. Two defeats in his first three matches in the hexagonal cost Sven-Goran Eriksson his job, and replacement Javier Aguirre started with another defeat, this time to whipping boys El Salvador. The prospect of a World Cup without Mexico loomed large, but Aguirre worked his magic on a demoralised team and five straight wins promptly followed, including a morale-boosting victory over the United States in front of 104,000 at the Azteca. A final 2-2 draw away to Trinidad & Tobago ensured second place in CONCACAF and a return to the finals.
Fixtures
Mexico v South Africa 11 June; Johannesburg AnalysisFIFA-ranked 17th in 2010, El Tri have been wayward since the last World Cup. After being consistently ranked in the world's top ten in the first half of the noughties, Mexico slipped as low as 33rd last summer. The rocky reign of Sven-Goran Eriksson now a fading memory, Mexico can breathe again and look forward to trying to break their second-round jinx this summer in South Africa. Mexico play a 4-3-3 system relying on quick passing along the deck and ubiquitous running. Left-back Carlos Salcido is typical - short, skilful and quick to pass or dribble up field. If they have a weakness it is in a lack of variety to their approach, the absence of a Hugo Sanchez ‘goleador' up front and an occasional tendency for defenders to fall asleep at crucial moments. There is also a lack of physical presence in midfield vis-a-vis some opponents and question marks surrounding their mental strength - while Aguirre turned a demoralised squad into World Cup participants, repeated second-round failure in the finals suggests a natural lack of the type of psychological steel the Germans for instance possess in abundance. On paper they have the ability, but have too often thrown away promising scenarios. When they are headed out, as against the Americans in Gwangju, Korea 2002, they can depressingly revert to petulant fouling. With Jared Borgetti gone, Mexico lack a dominant striker- an astonishing 14 different players found the net in the final qualifying round and Cuauhtemoc Blanco ended up top scorer with only three. On the other hand, midfielders and defenders join the attack at will and provide opposing defences with multiple targets to track. Right-back Efrain Juarez for instance showed in qualifiers how dangerous he can be bombing forward. Guillermo Franco is slated to start up front in the middle alongside Blanco on the left, their combined age of 70 providing mature wisdom alongside the young tyro Giovani on the right. Other attacking options include Deportivo La Coruna's left-sided danger man Andres Guardado and on the opposing flank former Man City attacker Nery Castillo, currently on loan to Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in the Ukraine. Lastly, expect Arsenal protege Carlos Vela to feature at the finals. Vela, who turns 21 in March, may not be first choice yet for club or country and is not the fastest forward in the world, but he has a deft touch, an eye for goal and a maturity belying his tender years - surely a Mexican star of the future. Experience again is at the core of the defence in the shape of Barcelona stalwart Rafael Marquez, twice a Champions League winner with the Blaugrana. Marquez anchors the back line and can also play full-back or defensive midfielder, where he can spray accurate long passes. His ability to snuff out attacks by reading the game ensures he is one of the first on Aguirre's team-sheet. Anchoring the midfield is another old soldier, Gerrardo Torrado, with 103 caps.
Key player: Cuauhtemoc BlancoBlanco shot to global fame with his audacious Cuauhtemiña trick at France '98 (leaping between defenders with the ball squeezed between his feet) to become the most recognisable Mexican player worldwide. He stayed 15 years with Club America of Mexico City but during that period spent time on loan to Necaxa and Veracruz and had a spell in Spain with Real Valladolid. Three seasons in MLS with Chicago Fire followed in 2007, before he returned to Mexico with Necaxa in 2009. After playing in two World Cups he looked to have played his last when he was controversially dropped from the 2006 edition by coach Ricardo La Volpe. But last April, Javier Aguirre, in desperate need of some experience in the heart of the national team, picked up the phone and dialed his number again. Blanco rolled back the years to become the fulcrum of Mexico Mark 2 in the 2010 qualifiers and ended up their top scorer, albeit with only three goals. He will enter his third World Cup in the summer in his 38th year. Age shall not wither them. One to watch: Giovani Dos SantosUnder-used so far by Harry Redknapp at Tottenham, the 20-year-old remains real dynamite waiting to explode onto the world stage. A sublimely skilled right-sided attacking midfielder who came to prominence in the Mexican U17 team which won the 2005 World Youth Cup, Dos Santos worked his way through the Barcelona youth system before making his full debut in 2007 as a substitute for Thierry Henry. 27 further appearances followed, before the Monterrey-born man signed off with a hat-trick in his final game for Barça before moving to North London at the end of the 2007-'08 season. Only two league starts for Spurs and a loan out to Championship side Ipswich have raised doubts that he may be wasting his time at the wrong team; at time of writing Galatasaray were rumoured to be after his services. For his country he continues to excel however and was a key performer throughout the qualifiers, memorably harrying the USA at the Azteca. Winning the 2009 Gold Cup MVP (Player of the Tournament) reminded his club what they are missing, but Aguirre and Mexican fans have no complaints so far.
Coach: Javier AguirreWith the boat to South Africa tooting its whistle and the Mexicans still not on the quay side in April last year, the federation hastily turned to a safe pair of hands in the form of their former boss, who has also coached Atletico Madrid and Osasuna in Spain. The mid-stream changeover paid off. 51-year-old Aguirre might well be described as solid but unspectacular. He talks without saying very much and while he may not be an in-demand or charismatic manager, did a sterling job in hauling around a doomed qualifying campaign and creating a burning phoenix of a team spirit out of the smoldering ashes of a demoralised squad. Mexico City-born Aguirre says his dream is to coach in the Premier League after another spell in Spain, and that he already has made some contacts in the home of football. Only a long cup run in South Africa will put him in the English shop window however, another reason for El Vasco (The Basque) to be up for the challenge this summer. Record1930, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1978 First Round; 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006 Second Round; 1970, 1986 Quarter Finals. 14th trip to the World Cup. FIFA RankingPredictions & Latest OddsThe game with Uruguay may be key to their hopes of progressing.
How they qualifiedSecond to the USA in the CONCACAF zone. On the sidelines Mexico lost in the round of 16 to Argentina in 2006, 2-1 in Leipzig. Soccerphile saysMexico cannot complain too loudly about a first-round group featuring France, South Africa and Uruguay, although having to face the host nation in the opening match was an unlucky card to draw. With Nelson Mandela and friends having just taken their seats, the rest of the world will surely be behind Bafana Bafana in that one. If England wear a quarter-finalists tag then Mexico carry a second-round one, having exited the tournament at that stage at the last four attempts. The enigma persists of an under-performing soccer-loving nation of 111 million people with the highest GDP per capita in all Latin America. Mexico have consistently qualified for the finals but only twice made the last eight, both times while hosting the tournament, in 1970 and 1986. Come every World Cup finals, Mexico are expected to be a threat and every time they flatter to deceive, performing well in the first round before stumbling out the tournament to a modestly-ranked nation once the knock-out stages begin. Group A it is true is not the toughest with the hosts South Africa as the seeded team, which leaves a fairly even scrap between the four teams. Mexico's prize for escaping the group however could mean another second-round showdown with Argentina, which they would probably lose, or a clash with Nigeria or South Korea, which looks harder to call. If Aguirre needs any more motivation to break Mexico's second-round jinx, he might recall his red card as a Mexico midfielder in their 1986 quarter-final exit. Coming from behind to defeat their old rivals the US 2-1 in August's crunch qualifier at the Azteca showed true grit, a mental toughness he needs to summon up again from his players in South Africa. The SquadGoalkeepers: Memo Ochoa (America), Luis Ernesto Michel (Chivas),
Oscar Perez (Chiapas) |
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