World Cup preview: Mexico
Coach: Javier Aguirre
Key player: Rafael Marquez
Previous best: Quarter-finals 1970 & 1986.
After bowing out at the second-round stage at each of their last four World Cups, an obvious target of reaching the quarter-finals has been set for the Mexicans heading to South Africa, and they’ve got the personnel with which to do it.
Former Atlético Madrid boss and 59-times a Mexican international, Javier Aguirre took over from Sven-Göran Eriksson last April and immediately oversaw an upturn in fortunes.
In his second spell managing his country – Aguirre was in charge of Mexico at the 2002 World Cup – the popular coach was suspended for three matches after kicking Panamanian midfielder Ricardo Phillips during a Gold Cup match last July, but that didn’t prevent his side from winning it – impressively beating the USA 5-0 in the final in New York.
World Cup qualification – which had seemed unlikely under Eriksson – was achieved with a 4-1 home win over El Salvador in October and the Mexicans head to South Africa in good heart, and with no little quality in their exciting squad.
Arsenal’s Carlos Vela and ex-West Ham forward Guillermo Franco will be looked to for goals, as will 22-year-old attacker Javier Hernández, the C.D. Guadalajara striker who will soon join Manchester United subject to a work permit. Deportivo midfielder Andrés Guardado is a tricky winger, and although Giovani dos Santos’ career has gone sideways (and that’s being polite) since his move from Barcelona to Tottenham, he’s still highly rated in his native land.
The experience of Barcelona’s Rafael Márquez will be key, as will other World Cup veterans Ricardo Osorio, Carlos Salcido and Gerardo Torrado. Cuauhtémoc Blanco, 37, played at France 1998 and South Korea 2002, but missed out on Germany 2006 after a row with coach Ricardo Lavolpe. He’s back this time and provides attacking cover.
On the face of it, their squad looks lacking in midfielders, meaning that Marquez – nominally recognised as a defender – could be asked to move further forward.
The Mexicans are in an intriguing group, and have a right to be confident of a fifth successive second-round appearance.
Aguirre will see the French as vulnerable, Uruguay beatable and the hosts perhaps nervous, and so he’ll be targeting top spot in the group, although a win over South Africa in the tournament’s opening match will probably be needed if that is to be achieved.
Bright, colourful and noisy, their supporters will once again be welcome at a World Cup, where they’ll feel that they have unfinished business following the manner of their exit in 2006 at the hands of Argentina and a sublime extra time winning goal from Maxi Rodríguez.
They had matched their opponents – then considered the best team in the competition – until that moment, and four years on, and with the additions of young talents such as Hernández, Vela and Dos Santos, they’ll be confident heading to South Africa.
That 5-0 Gold Cup final win over an admittedly weakened US team has raised expectations, and after the disappointment and underachievement of the Eriksson era, Aguirre has helped instil a new team spirit, perhaps more akin to a club side.
They’ll feel like a club team after completing their seven pre-tournament friendlies inside 27 days before the tournament opener against South Africa in Johannesburg, but they are a confident bunch, and anyone underestimating them could be in for a shock.
An ever demanding public will want them to win it, and while they won’t do that, don’t count on a fifth successive second-round elimination either.
Mexico squad
1 Óscar PÉREZ (Chiapas)
2 Francisco RODRÍGUEZ (PSV Eindhoven)
3 Carlos SALCIDO (PSV Eindhoven)
4 Rafael MÁRQUEZ (Barcelona)
5 Ricardo OSORIO (Stuttgart)
6 Gerardo TORRADO (Cruz Azul)
7 Pablo BARRERA (Pumas UNAM)
8 Israel CASTRO (Pumas UNAM)
9 Guillermo FRANCO (West Ham)
10 Cuauhtémoc BLANCO (Veracruz)
11 Carlos VELA (Arsenal)
12 Paul AGUILAR (Pachuca)
13 Guillermo OCHOA (America)
14 Javier HERNÁNDEZ (Manchester United)
15 Héctor MORENO (AZ Alkmaar)
16 Efraín JUÁREZ (Pumas UNAM)
17 Giovani DOS SANTOS (Tottenham)
18 Andrés GUARDADO (Deportivo La Coruna)
19 Jonny MAGALLÓN (Guadalajara)
20 Jorge Torres NILO (Atlas)
21 Adolfo BAUTISTA (Guadalajara)
22 Alberto MEDINA (Guadalajara)
23 Luis Ernesto MICHEL (Guadalajara)
Click here for previews of Mexico's Group A opponents:
http://www.senore.com/World-Cup-2010-preview-South-Africa-a12290
http://www.senore.com/World-Cup-2010-preview-Uruguay-a12307
http://www.senore.com/World-Cup-2010-preview-France-a12312
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