Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Been a long time

Mexico's last loss in Estadio Azteca was a 2-1 setback to Costa Rica during World Cup qualifying in 2001. That loss was written off mostly because Enrique Meza had the team in shambles.

The last time Mexico lost in Azteca before that was a 3-1 defeat to Spain in 1981.

Mexico has lost other games in Mexico since then - a 2-0 defeat to Bulgaria in Morelia, Michoacan comes to mind - but Azteca is supposed to be the place where opponents go to die.

Now that Hugo Sanchez has the team, I wonder how it will be spun.

Like I said in my earlier post, Hugo Sanchez has A LOT to prove. For all the smack he talked about Ricardo Lavolpe, he is already behind Lavolpe in terms of sheer results. Lavolpe did not lose the US the first time he faced them (a 0-0 tie in Houston). Lavolpe did not lose in Azteca to anyone (first game there was a 1-0 win over Brazil). Lavolpe won his first official tournament - the 2003 Gold Cup.

I was just as vocal as anyone when Hugo Sanchez was hired. I felt he was the right person for the job. But he does have a whole hell of a lot to prove, and losing in Estadio Azteca just doesn't cut it, friendly or otherwise.

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