Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Latecomer's blog dos

Mexico vs. Ghana - Hugo's last game?

I'm late to this one, too, having just switched over after the U.S. game finished.

Mexico is losing by a goal, scored by Essien. I interviewed Essien when he was here - he was a decent interview, though he maintains this interesting nonchalant, above-it-all air that I think he picked up from Mourinho.

65 - Franco (El Naturalizado) nearly evens things up with a header. Very close.
67 - Guardado is chasing balls around like crazy, but to no avail.
72 - Nery wins a FK on the corner of the box, but the service isn't great and Ghana clear.
74 - Sinha (El Naturalizadito) is in the game now, and he hit a burner of an outside shot that went wide by not a lot.
75 - Nery into the box but doesn't get a shot or a pass off. That looked more promising, but turned out not so.
77 - GOAL! Mexico takes advantage of a poor backpass, by Essien, I think, and an even worse decision by Ghana goalkeeper Fatau to not straight clear the ball. He tries to take a touch instead, and the ball rebounds invitingly towards Carlos Salcido. Fatau panics and lunges for the ball feet first, missing most of it and pushing the ball against Salcido's legs. It bounces over the fallen keeper leaving Salcido an open goal. Hilariously bad, but it's a goal still. 1-1.
79 - Bofo is in for Nery now. If Mexico pulls out a win helped by such a bad Ghana error, will Hugo keep his job?
82 - Mensah gets a yellow for a handball near midfield. Junior Agogo leaves the field for Eric Bekoe.
Guardado works hard, hassling a defender deep into Ghana territory, prompting a bad pass that gets to Bofo, who goes into the box and gets fouled by Eric Addo. PK!
86- Pavel Pardo to take. GOAL! He nails it. Absolutely textbook. I wish Guardado could get an assist or something, because he did the hard work to set up that play. He did it on tired legs, too, since Bofo just came in. 2-1, Mexico.
88 - Hugo Sanchez should buy Fatau dinner or something. The Ghanian goalkeeper didn't look horrible on the PK, but he was beyond-words bad on the first goal.
90 - Ghana with a chance, but Ozzy (no-relation-to-Hugo) covers it.
90+ Essien nearly scores again, but it's wide. CK last gasp for Ghana. Cleared.
Final whistle. Hugo may live on, but not if the fans holding up signs of Hugo, Fuera! get their way.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dinner, two round-trip tickets to Cancun and a Movistar phone. Not only was that NOT a PK (it was clearly a dive) it happened outside the box!

Do you think this is enough to save his job?

A.C. said...

FIFA continuation, which half the refs follow, was probably in play here, but yeah, it was a soft PK. The ref called it, though, so maybe he's the one who should get the Cancun trip from Hugo.

Anonymous said...

you're either a hater or have bad vision. bofo was clearly pulled down in the box.

that being said, ghana dominated this game and mexico should feel lucky.

hugo needs to go.

CACuzcatlan said...

I'm sure every team in CONCACAF is hoping Hugo doesn't get fired. Honduras and Canada have an excellent shot at making the World Cup if Mexico keeps Sanchez.

L.B. said...

I don't know that this result will do much to change the fed's minds. My guess is that many of them already have their minds made up.

I don't think he should get fired but I have a feeling that he will.

Anonymous said...

they were absolutely lucky to win...he needs to go