Mexico Leaves Brazil All Wet
The Copa Bora, as the Gold Cup soccer tournament is now known in Mexico, finally found something it could promote--namely, the continued good standing of Bora Milutinovic as Mexican national coach.
Ten days ago, Milutinovic’s name was roughly akin to mud south of the border--his return as Mexico’s coach marred by early losses to Yugoslavia and Slovenia’s under-23 team and a pre-Gold Cup record of 1-2-1.
By nightfall Sunday, Milutinovic had been rehabilitated as a master of the mud, the rain, the all-climate counter-attack and, yes, Brazil too. His team’s 2-0 victory before 88,155 at the Coliseum may have been one long stomp through the swamp, nothing much to look at, but it gave Mexico its first triumph over Brazil since 1970 and two of the first three Gold Cup championships.
For the record, second-half goals by Luis Garcia and Cuauhtemoc Blanco determined the outcome. But Milutinovic knows better than that, which is why he couldn’t keep a straight face when he described the Coliseum field as “terrible” before expressing his heartfelt appreciation.
“When I saw it was raining, I said, ‘Thank you,’ ” Milutinovic said, beaming as he looked out at the bog one more time. “The gods were with us. It was our day.”
It was Mexico’s tournament, courtesy of some curiously laid plans by the Gold Cup organizing committee--not an oxymoron, Gold Cup officials continue to insist. Because it was in the tournament’s best interest to have Mexico reach the championship game--that crowd count again: 88,155--Mexico was assigned to the group with the two weakest teams in the field (Guatemala and St. Vincent and the Grenadines) and given three virtual home games at San Diego’s Jack Murphy Stadium.
Mexico beat St. Vincent, ranked 91st in the world by FIFA, remarkably without nodding off in the 18-yard box, then used a pair of dour 1-0 decisions over Guatemala (No. 163 in the world) to reach the final against Brazil’s under-23 team, here as a “guest,” using the CONCACAF championships as a tuneup for the 1996 Olympics.
Then, for 2 1/2 hours before the final, it poured rain in Los Angeles. At the same time, the soccer teams from the United States and Guatemala were chewing up the Coliseum field in the preliminary third-place game, leaving behind a horse trough that completely nullified the young Brazilians’ chief offensive asset--speed.
The field “was a big advantage for us,” Milutinovic acknowledged, and that much was obvious in the game’s first 10 minutes, when two Brazilian surges downfield literally got stuck in the mud. A cross would be lobbed into the penalty area, a long feed would be played down the flank, and the ball would plop into a puddle and die an ugly death right there.
Mexico, meanwhile, got down and as dirty as the mire. In its 3-0 victory in the third-place game, the United States committed 21 fouls, which was a Gold Cup record until Mexico stepped onto the field and broke that record by 17.
Thirty-eight fouls--and four yellow cards. Mexico’s brutish style drove the Brazilians to distraction and beyond, leading an exasperated Andre Luis to hack Blanco in the 80th minute and draw a red card.
Diplomatically, Brazil Coach Mario Zagalo assessed the Mexicans as “playing tactically better than we did. They took better advantage of the field, which was very heavy. It was difficult for us to have any continuity. We couldn’t string together two or three passes.”
Asked about the perpetual sounding of the referee’s whistle, Milutinovic mused, “We have better things to talk about than the refereeing. Maybe the weather?”
Garcia broke a scoreless draw in the 54th minute, followed by Blanco’s clinching strike in the 75th.
“Mexico is the undisputed champion,” Zagalo declared. He was willing to let Mexico have its day, mud bog or no, provided the exultation was kept within reason.
“Don’t forget,” Zagalo slyly reminded a room of reporters, “we brought the young team.”
* U.S. WINS: Eric Wynalda scored one of three U.S. goals in a victory over Guatemala for third place in Gold Cup. C5
* SPOTLIGHT: C4.
