Mexico lost to Honduras 2-1 in a Gold Cup game today. I just filed my SI.com story analyzing what went wrong for El Tri today.
Don't worry. I took them to task.
ADD: Okay, here's the story. It's been up for a while but I haven't gotten the chance to get back here until now.
Some of the things I mentioned in the story and some other thoughts about the game:
- Mexico has played eight games under Hugo Sanchez. They've had exactly one shutout.
- Mexico had its big guns out there against Honduras and they all fired blanks.
- Often, Mexico is the aggressor and when they lose, Mexican supporters claim it's because teams are scared and they just sit back and try for counters. Honduras did not sit back for a second. They didn't sit back in the first minute nor did they sit back in the 90th minute.
- The red card didn't matter. Honduras was bound to score anyway.
- This is a bad loss but Mexico has time to recover. Three days actually.
- Somewhere, I've got to believe that Ricardo Lavolpe is smiling.
11 comments:
AHHHH. My DVR cut out the final minutes and the deciding goal.
That is a clearly deserved final though. Actually, it should have been Honduras by 3 or 4 goals. Mexico gave them golden opportunities on a plater time and time again.
Mexico has been going down hill for quite some time. I wonder if this will be the point when people stop over-rating their talent.
haha, what would you do if the Honduran defender kept trying to kiss you?
The difference in the match was the horrible back line of Mexico. Magallon and Ramon Morales were flat out attrocious. Horrible.
Playing a man down for close to 45 minutes made a difference but lately Mexico has trouble keeping a clean scoresheet with Magallon back there.
On offense they look a little sub par but it has more to do with Hugo tinkering than being void of talent. Having said that they need top shelf replacement for Borgetti. Bravo is too whimpy and short to fill that role.
On a sidenote, there has been some fans of both the US and Mexico that have overblown losses and wins lately. Calm down people, it just a game in a tournament. As soon as a team officially gets eliminated from a tournament than you should cry wolf. I remember Italy and France didn't look so hot early on and ended up in the final of WC 2006. That is why they are called tournaments.
Luis,
I know you're a big Tri fan and you are probably taking hell for this from your SI readers who always take you to task over it, but you are a good sport for telling it like it is. I tell you who this Mexico team reminds me a lot of--COLOMBIA post Valderrama. Lots of talented players, coveted by foreign teams, with big contracts and big egos. Put it together and what do you got? A team of individuals that really don't have any ideas offensively these days and continue to lose confidence in each other as each game passes by. The good news for Mexico is that a good ass kicking and a month long boot camp could probably solve most of their problems. The bad news for Mexico is that there are no real goal scorers. Blanco and Borgetti are the best of them, and they are on their way out. I see no true #9 waiting in the wings to take over, and Mexico will be up and down until a finisher can be found...
One thing that bothers me about Mexico is that the team tends to depend on the same familiar faces even if they aren't performing well, instead of trying out some new blood like Cacho, Sabah, Landin (who can't be any worse) it's a rotation of Bofo, Bravo, Fonseca, Blanco, Borgetti. This is where the US seems to have an advantage. The US usually seems willing to try out some new guys and if they don't work out they keep on looking. I don't know if it's because there's more scrutiny in Mexico, but their coaches never really seem open to taking risks and trying something new.
By the way did Castillo play today? I think he's the best thing that has happened so far under Hugo.
LB
I read your SI column and I agree with a lot of it. You do tend to paint a doomsday picture a bit too much.
Th truth is, that if Hugo does not work out it is not the end of the world. World Cup qualifying has not even started yet so everybody needs to just relax including yourself. The Aguirre "save job" was a dire situation but compared to this particular loss--Mexico is not at that low of a level yet.
For the record, Honduras should be given credit they played an awesome game and they have a good squad that should have some World Cups under their belt. Honduras is not chopped liver by any means, they have some hard nosed players.
The bottom line is that for the US and Mexico the Gold Cup and Copa America is just a testing ground of sorts to work out the kinks for the main show which is the only one that counts South Africa 2010.
There's nothing shocking about Honduras's win. Honduras played at a far superior level than Mexico today..Win well deserved. Blanco should have been smarter than that. The world knows how short his fuse is and it was exploited....
One thing that might have been overlooked in my column was Honduras' efforts and abilities. I wasn't trying to minimize their victory or to discredit it by implying that Mexico dropped the ball, and I don't think I did.
Clearly Honduras played a fantastic game and if they can figure out how to play like this every time, their fans will have to plan an African trip in the summer of 2010.
But Mexico is the more accomplished team, the one whose path was set up for them to reach the final against the other regional power. Thus, the onus was on them to perform and come away the victors.
Not sure why Castillo didn't play on Sunday. Perhaps Hugo Sanchez did not want to burn him out. I agree that having convinced Nery to play for Mexico is probably the best thing Sanchez has accomplished as coach.
Wow. I talked to Shoe about the game just before I read your column, and the last part about Sanchez was exactly what I mentioned on the phone.
If Sanchez isn't the guy, who is? Imagine this scenario: Going out in the group stages of both the Copa Oro and Copa America. The first is a good possibility, as Panama has looked great in their first two matches.
This is the guy everyone wanted, yet the results aren't what everyone wanted.
Like I told Shoe, is there anyway they can get Aguirre back? Aside from the US debacle, he got the job done and saved El Tri's asses.
i think the FMF had it right all along. they always knew hugo was a bad coach, but they were afraid of him because he is so strongly backed by the mexican press. bringing him in now will allow the FMF to quiet its most vocal opponent, while not causing a problem for 2010 qualifying. i will be shocked if hugo is still the coach come 2008
DMH
My 3-year-old daughter likes Sunny D. She can get it out of the fridge by herself. I would always take off the little plastic cap and pull up the lid so she can drink it but she wanted to do that by herself.
She complained about it so much that I let her try.
She couldn't do it.
I do it now.
She doesn't complain anymore.
DMH, you may be on to something.
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