Mexico Rights Its Ship
A cornered rat, it turns out, can deliver a nasty bite.
Just ask the U.S., which was defeated, 1-0, by Mexico on Sunday in a World Cup qualifying game played in front of a loud, supportive and near-capacity crowd of 100,000 at Azteca Stadium.
Game day arrived with the Mexicans fearing the worst.
The front page of the sports section in the El Universal newspaper here Sunday morning featured a full-color drawing that took up almost half the page.
It depicted a showdown of sorts. To one side was an Uncle Sam character in a red, white and blue soccer uniform, but--prophetically--carrying no weapons. Harmless, in fact.
To the other side was a rat, sporting a giant sombrero, crossed bandoleers, two pistols and wearing the red, green and white colors of Mexico.
Between the two was a soccer ball, but the point of the cartoon was the location: the rat was teetering on the very edge of a cliff and wore a terrified look on its face.
Mexico’s fans call their team the Tricolor when it is winning but refer to the players as Green Rats when things aren’t going well.
Lately, the Green Rats had lost six in a row and had been pushed to the brink of failing to qualify for the 2002 World Cup.
One small shove by Uncle Sam could have sent them plummeting.
But on a warm afternoon, Mexico rode the good luck of new Coach Javier Aguirre and an opportunistic goal by Jared Borgetti to a victory that brightened its outlook considerably.
“We have earned ourselves a lifeline,” Aguirre said.
“Mexico stays alive with this win,” U.S. Coach Bruce Arena agreed.
As World Cup qualifying games go, this one definitely wasn’t a classic. Both teams played poorly, continually turning the ball over and seldom creating any dangerous scoring chances.
What creative play there was belonged to Mexico, especially to forward Francisco Palencia and midfielder Jesus Arellano, both of whom caused the out-of-sorts U.S. defense numerous problems.
Only two stunning, one-handed saves by U.S. goalkeeper Kasey Keller on shots by Arellano and Victor Gutierrez kept the Americans in the game.
The lone goal, in the 16th minute, was the result of a U.S. defensive error.
“We conceded a foolish goal,” Arena admitted. “It was a really poor decision by our back line to try to move up [and play an offside trap]. With the crowd noise early in the game, the communication [between defenders] wasn’t there.
“We left the one guy who could probably score a goal [Borgetti] open in front of the net.”
The play grew out of a foul on Mexico’s Alberto Garcia Aspe by U.S. midfielder Joe-Max Moore, filling in for suspended Claudio Reyna.
Garcia Aspe, a 34-year-old veteran of numerous victories over the Americans but only just recalled to the national team after retiring from it two years ago, took the free kick.
He floated the ball into the U.S. penalty area, the defense moved forward trying to catch the Mexicans offside, but a couple of American players didn’t move in time and thereby kept Borgetti on side.
Unchallenged, the lanky forward headed the ball powerfully past the rooted Keller from about 14 yards.
The goal inspired the fans. Mexico has had little to shout about so far in the final round of qualifying for Korea/Japan 2002. It came in with a 1-3-1 record and in fifth place in the six-team group.
Sunday’s victory pushed its point total up to seven and left it within striking distance of its next opponent, fourth-place Jamaica, which has eight points, the same as third-place Honduras, which lost, 3-2, in Tegucigalpa later Sunday to Costa Rica.
The Costa Rican victory moved it into first place, ahead of the U.S. The teams are tied on points and goal differential, but Costa Rica has scored more goals.
Goal-scoring was clearly the problem for the U.S. on Sunday.
The Americans did not take a shot in the first half and were outshot, 14-4, overall. The U.S. midfielders found themselves pushed back and there was no link between them and the two forwards, Jovan Kirovski and Ante Razov.
“I don’t think we played well in the first half,” Arena said. “I was very disappointed in our performance.”
Cobi Jones came on in place of Moore for the second half, and Arena later replaced Kirovski with Brian McBride and Razov with Chris Klein. The second half provided brief U.S. attacking forays, but led to nothing.
Jones’ angled shot from the right was the only save Mexico goalkeeper Oscar Perez had to make.
“Where Mexico won the battle was in the midfield,” Arena said. “They were much stronger on the ball, winning tackles and getting a foot in all day. I think that was the difference in the game.”
Defender Jeff Agoos had another view.
“We stepped on the field with the wrong mentality,” he said. “We came out slow, we came out sluggish.
“I think today we beat ourselves. We were our own worst enemy.”
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In other World Cup qualifiers:
Cameroon and South Africa became the first nations in qualifying to earn berths for next year’s tournament in Korea and Japan, and four-time champion Brazil stumbled again, losing, 1-0, at Uruguay.
At Yaounde, Cameroon won, 2-0, at home against Togo, to take Group A and become the first African nation to qualify five times for soccer’s premier event. South Africa gained its second consecutive berth with a 1-1 tie at Burkina Faso that clinched Group E.
At Montevideo, Brazil remained winless in three qualifiers this year, giving up a goal on Federico Magallanes’ penalty kick in the 33rd minute after Alvaro Recoba was pulled down in the penalty area.
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Argentina, behind three goals from Javier Saviola, defeated France, 3-1, at Buenos Aires to advance to the semifinals of the FIFA World Youth Championship.
Argentina next faces Paraguay, which defeated the Czech Republic, 1-0, in another quarterfinal at Mendoza.
Brazil, the tournament favorite, lost to Ghana, 2-1, at Cordoba in overtime. In Wednesday’s semifinals, Ghana will play Egypt, which defeated the Netherlands, 2-1, at Rosario.
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CONCACAF STANDINGS
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Country W L T GF GA Pts Costa Rica 4 1 1 12 7 13 U.S. 4 1 1 7 2 13 Honduras 2 2 2 13 11 8 Jamaica 2 2 2 5 8 8 Mexico 2 3 1 8 8 7 Trinidad 0 5 1 4 13 1
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Saturday’s Score
At Port-of-Spain, Trinidad
Jamaica 2, Trinidad and Tobago 1
Sunday’s Scores
At Mexico City
Mexico 1, United States 0
At Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Costa Rica 3, Honduras 2
Note: Top three teams qualify
