Friday, March 14, 2008

Back in the win column

Just barely.

Grahame mentions a few reactions from the CONCACAF coaches at the post-game press conference.

One incident, though, was a bit amusing. When Hugo Sanchez sat down at the press table, he grumpily insisted that all those asking him anything identify the media group they were with. If they forgot, he would ask them who they were with before answering. I was sitting next to Ivan Orozco of the San Diego-Union Tribune, and he raised a hand to ask Sanchez a question. In Spanish, he told Hugo he was from the Union-Tribune in San Diego, then he asked Hugo what explanation he had to the Mexican public for the team's poor result - how was Hugo planning to reassure them after this tremendous disappointment.

In Spanish, Hugo barked at Ivan, "Where are you from? Who are you with?" Ivan repeated that he was from San Diego. "You're not Mexican?" pressed Hugo. Ivan said he was American. Hugo looked unconvinced, then muttered under his breath, "I thought he was Mexican - why would he be so concerned with the feeling of the Mexican public otherwise?"

In general, the press conferences are a disaster. They simply take too long. Coaches often don't emerge for a long time, and when they arrive, the translation issues means it takes quite a while to get through even a few questions. Meanwhile, the teams release players to pass through the mixed zone at the same time, so reporters are faced with a crappy choice - Miss the canned press conference questions to the coach, or miss the players who performed in the match. It's frustrating, to say the least.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does anyone have info on why the U-23s are wearing the 06/07 kits and not the new 08 jersey? I don't like the new jersey, I find it strange that the full national team has dressed in it and the U-23s are still qualifying on TV with the old ones. I would think with team playing games on ESPN that Nike would want to max exposer of the new kit to the viewing audience.

Anonymous said...

maybe it is to go with their outdated and boring style of play 8-)

L.B. said...

Ha! :D

The ultimate retro!

just another one of you said...

b/c the new jersey is crap and Nike knows it. The original Wiz jersey was better than that poor excuse of a jersey. Those young guys know what's up.

Anonymous said...

A little off topic, but I was watching the US v Panama match last night and Christian Miles said that the Mexico result was a surprise. The first thing I thought was "Really? Not if you had been reading Sideline Views it wasn't."

Great job LB!

Lew D.

Beto_atx said...

So did Hugo eventually answer Ivan's question?

Joseph D'Hippolito said...

a.c., as you well know, CONCACAF media officials are generally abysmally incompetent (as is the leadership, but that's another issue altogether). I mentioned in another post that few media-relations liasons seem to know or care about the legitimate deadline demands that reporters have. The liasons are more interested in presenting the best corporate face. Certainly, that's part of their job but they can't do that if they can't provide timely information.

Besides, it's obvious that Hugool is feeling the pressure. Good. He created this mess with his constant carping of Lavolpe; now let him suffer the consequences.

Then again, the Virgin of Guadalupe could coach the Mexican national team and if she didn't get the desired results (or did so using an unattractive style of play), the fans and media would still shout, "Fuera, fuera!"

Greg Seltzer said...

Hehe, I almost never go the coaches press conference! Maybe that's why I'm able to get a question in edgewise! :D