The Other View

By the way they wrote up the game story on Prensa Libre, you would have thought Guatemala won a World Cup game.

Here's a translation of their match report on their web site.

Guatemala played one of its best matches over its previous seven friendly encounters, with a tactially disciplined squad that knew how to defend itself and pushed forward at times.

Guatemala stopped the positive results by the Untied States who in their last three games had beaten Denmark 3-1, Mexico 2-0 and Ecuador 3-1.

Guatemala played a defensive scheme agianst the Americans with only one striker - Carlos Ruiz - and although the did not have possession of the ball they destroyed the hosts' midfield advancement and did not allow them to get in their fast-paced rhythm.

But Guatemala was not content with just defending. In the second half, Guatemala took advantage of the right side of the field with Carlos Figueroa and the creativity of Jose Contreras and the dynamic Pescado Ruiz who troubled goalkeeper Kasey Keller because on two occasions he appeared troubled by the direct shots from the national team forward.

The national team faced a complicated rival that never stopped attacking Ricardo Trigueno Foster's area but the Guatemalan goalkeeper was alert and had a strong defensive line in front of him guided by Gustavo Cabrera and Claudio Albizuris and were complemented by the physical paly of Leonel Noriega, Carlos Quinonez and Freddy Thompson in the midfield.

Last night, althought Guatemala did not score and are now seven games without a win in the Bolillo Gomez era, they nevertheless took a step forward ahead of their June 7 game against the Untied states, an official Gold Cup match. The last time they played, the national team lost 4-0.