Mexicans celebrate warm up win
Mexican football fans, celebrated their country’s win over Chile in a World cup warm-up match at the Azteca, which will go a long way in helping the team’s preparations for the prestigious event that is set to start on the 11th of June in South Africa. The Central Americans were indebted to striker Alberto Medina, who scored his second goal in three World Cup warm-up games to give Mexico a win by a solitary goal over the Chileans on Sunday.
Mexico has won its last three warm-up matches 1-0, defeating Angola 1-0 with a strike from Guardado in Houston, Texas last Thursday. Before the start of the match the Mexican coach Javier Aguirre dropped two defenders, Juan Carlos Valenzuela and Adrian Aldrete
Over on Sunday the Chileans were in for a rude shock as they struggled to break the shackles as their pivotal midfielder Manuel Iturra was sent off on the hour for his second red card in five days.
Iturra suffered a similar penalty in another match last week playing for Universidad de Chile in the Libertadores Cup. Medina, who was the hero in his country’s win last week's 1-0 win over African rivals Senegal in Chicago, took a pass from Cuauhtémoc Blanco on the edge of the box and fired home a left-footed shot for the only goal in the 14th minute.
Medina’s efforts won plaudits from the beaming fans who were mesmerised by their team’s clinical display claiming that they were well prepared for the World cup, "That goal was good, wasn't it?" said Mexican soccer fan Israel Medina. "Mexico won. It was excellent but we are expecting more. Hopefully they will play better at the World Cup and we hope that Mexico keeps winning."
It was not all Medina yesterday as striker Javier Hernandez could have ensured a comfortable win for the Mexicans but his shot two minutes after Iturra's dismissal hit the post. Mexican coach Javier Aguirre said that was unusual, for Hernandez to have missed such a sitter, "It's not normal for Javier (Hernandez) to sweep past the goalkeeper and hit the post," he said.
Meanwhile Chile’s efforts were given a serious jolt with the foul by their linchpin Iturra, who was hardly on the pitch for one minute when he was sent off for a foul from behind on midfielder Andres Guardado.
The Chileans started the match without their regular striking duo of Humberto Suazo and Esteban Paredes who are recovering from injuries, and hence began the match on the back foot with no recognized strikers in their line-up.
For the losing coach Marcelo Bielsa his team’s loss was due to their inability to recover possession of the ball from the Mexican side.
"At the beginning of the match it took a lot for us to recover the ball. We always fought for possession after they got it and managed to shoot. We lost possession of the ball. We were playing at the edge, far from being convenient," he said.
Meanwhile the confident Mexicans are set to send 24 players on a tour of Europe where Mexico will meet England on May 24, Netherlands on May 26, Gambia on May 30 and Italy on June 3, before the final World cup squad is trimmed down to 23 for the finals by June 1.
Mexico meets hosts’ South Africa in the opening match of the World Cup. They also face Uruguay and France in Group A. Chile face Honduras, Switzerland and Spain in Group H.
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