The U.S.-Mexico Rivalry Finally Becomes Just That
Sharing a 2,000-mile border, it is only natural that the United States and Mexico also should share sporting rivalries.
In soccer, that rivalry is in its 63rd year and has always been more than a little one-sided. Until 1990, and the rise of the current generation of American players, Mexico dominated.
Now, although the United States has not moved ahead of Mexico, it at least has pulled somewhat even. And that has had the following impact:
* U.S. players no longer fear speaking out about Mexico;
* Mexico relishes its victories even more now that they are less frequent;
* U.S. Coach Steve Sampson and Bora Milutinovic, his former boss and now Mexico’s coach, remain friends but not quite as close as during World Cup ’94 when Sampson was one of Milutinovic’s assistants on the U.S. team.
All of which sets the tone for perhaps the most important U.S.-Mexico encounter in years, a World Cup ’98 qualifying game today at sold-out (57,877) Foxboro Stadium near Boston.
The Americans come in with a 1-1-1 record and are coming off a 3-2 loss to Costa Rica that dented their confidence.
The Mexicans come in with a 2-0-1 record and are coming off a 6-0 victory over Jamaica that has them walking on air.
The U.S. defense is shaky, at best.
Mexico’s attack is the strongest of any team in the six-nation final qualifying group that also includes Canada and El Salvador. Three of the six will go to France.
Playing the game on what is expected to be a cold, damp afternoon in a stadium as far from Mexico as possible was supposed to cancel out some of Mexico’s advantage.
Goalkeeper Jorge Campos, for one, has bad memories of the stadium, having shivered there in the rain when the Galaxy lost the Major League Soccer championship game to D.C. United last October.
But such is the strength of the Mexican team that Campos, recovering from injury, might not even play. After all, backup Adolfo Rios has not given up a goal in three qualifying games.
MEXICO’S ATTACK
In its most impressive showing in several years, Mexico demolished Jamaica last Sunday in front of 100,000 at Guillermo Canedo Stadium in Mexico City. The 6-0 victory over a team that the U.S. had only managed to tie, 0-0, in Kingston, was as comprehensive as it was emphatic. Mexico dominated every aspect of the game.
Striker Carlos Hermosillo scored three goals, bringing his total in World Cup qualifying play to 13 and breaking the record long held by Hugo Sanchez.
But Hermosillo is only the spearhead of an attack that also features Ramon Ramirez and Roberto Alves, better known as Zague or Zaguinho, on the left flank. Either is a handful to mark; together they are lethal.
Then there is the dribbling wizardry of Luis Hernandez on the right wing.
Hernandez could cause the U.S. defense fits. He has the ability to retain possession, to finish with power and accuracy or to lift pinpoint crosses into the goalmouth for Hermosillo and company to pounce on.
Milutinovic also has World Cup ’94 striker Luis Garcia and promising forward Joaquin Del Olmo waiting on the bench. Against Jamaica, Del Olmo scored a spectacular goal, volleying in a 30-yard cross from Benjamin Galindo.
Add such offensive-minded midfielders as Alberto Garcia Aspe, who returns from suspension, and it is easy to see why Mexico will prove difficult to stop.
THE U.S. DEFENSE
How does Sampson counter this firepower?
He has a choice between vastly experienced but painfully slow defenders and faster but totally raw players.
Does he stick with Thomas Dooley, Jeff Agoos, Alexi Lalas, Mike Burns and Eddie Pope, or does he consider starting Marcelo Balboa or Peter Vermes? He surely cannot risk using the inexperienced Frankie Hejduk, Ramiro Corrales or newcomer Mike DuHaney.
Sampson is giving nothing away and refuses to name his lineup until game time.
“I’m not going to make any comments about who we’re going to play--that’s been my policy all along--or how we’re going to play,” he said.
“These games are extremely important and we don’t want to give any more information than is necessary to the opposition.”
THE WYNALDA FACTOR
As if the rivalry needed another boost, here is what Soccer America magazine last week quoted U.S. striker Eric Wynalda as saying.
“When you look at us and Mexico, I have no problem at all with saying I hate them. I hate and love to play them. Mexico’s always been our biggest rival. It’s one of those things we grow up with as soccer players in America--you always have to read and hear about Mexico.
“I don’t like it. Once I step on the field, I hate ‘em. Nowhere is it written that I have to say I like them. That’s just the way it is.”
Asked whether the remarks had brought any repercussions from Sampson or whether he wanted to expand on them, Wynalda backpedaled.
“My comment was ‘I hate to lose to them and I love to beat them,’ ” the U.S. team’s all-time leading goal scorer said.
“I never said I hated Mexico. It’s one of those situations that just kind of got blown out of proportion. There has been no fallout because Steve [Sampson] knows what I said.
“I’m sure a lot of people will try to make it into something that it isn’t. Without a doubt, I have a lot of respect for the Mexican team and Mexico in general. There isn’t really a problem there.”
KELLER SAVES THE DAY
Goalkeeper Kasey Keller was on such a high after shutting out Middlesbrough at Wembley Stadium in the English League Cup Final on Wednesday that he might not have needed the plane that carried him across the Atlantic to rejoin the U.S. team the next morning.
The 1-0 overtime victory by his Premier League team, Leicester City, made Keller the second American to play on a League Cup-winning team.
U.S. national team captain John Harkes was the first, with Sheffield Wednesday in 1991.
Middlesbrough, with Italian national team striker Fabrizzio Ravanelli and Brazilian forwards Emerson and Juninho in its lineup, was the favorite, but Keller blanked all three.
It was only Leicester’s second League Cup win in the team’s 113-year history, and the former University of Portland standout preserved the victory with a point-blank save from a shot by Emerson late in the game.
BAGS ARE PACKED
A loss to Mexico would not signal the end of U.S. hopes of reaching France, but it could put the spotlight back on Sampson.
He says he is unconcerned.
“He [U.S. Soccer President Alan Rothenberg] and I both know how important it is to do well against Mexico and to get three points at home,” Sampson said. “He doesn’t need to tell me that.
“No one wants to win this game more than I. They [federation officials] don’t need to put any more pressure on me than I put on myself.
“A good friend of mine told me to always keep your bags packed when you take the job as the U.S. national team coach. So the bags are packed. I take whatever comes to me. Until they make that decision, I’m going to give 100% of myself and nothing less.
“Those decisions are out of my control. All I can do is my very best job and leave it at that. Whatever happens, happens, [but] I’m very, very confident that we’ll qualify for France.
“This is not a do-or-die match.”
PORTLAND GETS A GAME
Portland, a strong soccer city in the days of the North American Soccer League and the home of U.S. assistant coach Clive Charles, might be making a comeback in the not-too-distant future.
U.S. Soccer on Thursday announced that the United States-Costa Rica World Cup qualifying match Sept. 7 will be played at Portland Civic Stadium, former home of the NASL’s Portland Timber. It is the first time in 12 years that the national team has played in Portland, and the federation will install a grass field for the event.
The move could be seen as a test for soccer interest in the region, with the possibility of an MLS team being awarded to the city in the future.
The federation also announced that the Oct. 3 U.S.-Jamaica game will be played at RFK Stadium in Washington.
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10 for the ‘90s
Since their first game, a World Cup qualifier in Rome in 1934, the national teams of the United States and Mexico have played 45 times, with Mexico holding a 29-7-9 advantage. It has outscored the United States, 125-48.
In the 1990s, however, the teams have split their 10 games, 3-3-4. Here is a look at those 10 matches:
*--*
Date and Site Result May 10, 1990, Burnaby, Canada Mexico, 1-0 March 12, 1991, Los Angeles 2-2 July 5, 1991, Los Angeles U.S., 2-0 July 25, 1993, Mexico City Mexico, 4-0 Oct. 13, 1993, Washington 1-1 June 4, 1994, Pasadena U.S., 1-0 June 18, 1995, Washington U.S., 4-0 July 17, 1995, Paysandu, Uruguay 1-1 June 16, 1996, Pasadena 2-2 Jan. 19, 1997, Pasadena Mexico, 2-0
*--*
