Mexico’s Future Wins Now, 3-2

The national soccer team that Mexico is developing for the future appears ready to play now.

Because it used over-age players in a junior tournament, Mexico has been disqualified from the 1990 World Cup in Italy. Meantime, Mexican soccer officials are looking ahead to the 1992 Summer Olympics and 1994 World Cup when evaluating talent.

For the Marlboro Cup at the Coliseum, they brought together young players, most of them inexperienced in international play, from seven different teams and hoped they would not be embarrassed.

Far from it, they won the tournament, beating Juventus from the powerful Italian League, 3-2, in Sunday’s championship game.

After a scoreless first half, Juventus’ Salvatore Schillachi scored with 35 minutes remaining. But just when it appeared the crowd of 23,191, predominantly pro-Mexico, had been lulled to sleep, Antonio Alcantara evened the score for the Mexicans with 22 minutes remaining.

Anyone who went to the concession stand at that point missed the most exciting soccer since Thursday night, when Mexico and South Korea scored four goals within the first seven minutes of the second half. Mexico won that game, 4-2.

In the championship game, there also were four goals scored within seven minutes. But this time, the explosive Mexicans scored three of them.

After Juventus regained the lead, 2-1, on a goal by Sergio Brio with 18 minutes left, Mexico’s Alvaro Torres scored 1 minute 40 seconds later. Only 1 minute 30 seconds after that, Mexico’s Ricardo Chavez scored the clincher on a shot with 15 minutes remaining.