A 2-1 win by Honduras puts Mexico on edge
The team Mexico gave Hugo Sanchez in his first try at running the national program was supposed to be one of the most dominant in the country’s rich soccer tradition. And it might ultimately prove to be just that.
But two games into his first international tournament, Sanchez finds himself on the brink of one of the biggest disappointments in Mexican soccer history, with Sunday’s stunning 2-1 loss to Honduras in front of a Giants Stadium crowd of 68,123 leaving his team on the verge of elimination in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Virtually conceded a place in the final before the Gold Cup began, the four-time tournament champion needs a victory over Panama in Houston on Wednesday to assure itself a second-round berth. Mexico could also advance with a tie, but it would need help to make that happen.
Panama, meanwhile, goes to Texas leading Group C after hanging on for a 2-2 victory over a surprisingly tough Cuban team.
“We’re going to fight to qualify against Panama,” Sanchez said. But “we’ve been thinking and saying that we were going to advance as the first-place team in our group.”
Honduras, which had never beaten Mexico in Gold Cup play, used a simple but effective strategy Sunday: Harass short-tempered forward Cuauhtemoc Blanco. And though Blanco scored Mexico’s lone goal on a first-half penalty kick, Honduran defender Jorge Samuel Caballeros did his job, marking Blanco closely, pushing him, leaning on him, even knocking him to the ground at one point.
Four minutes into the second half Blanco finally snapped, elbowing Caballeros in front of the Mexico goal. Caballeros did a great job of selling the foul, dropping to the ground and writhing in pain -- and Costa Rican referee Walter Quezada bought it, sending Blanco off with a red card.
“That was the key, wasn’t it?” Sanchez said. “When we were 10 against 11, yes they were superior. If we had played the whole game 11 on 11, it would have been a different game.
“The blow was insignificant in comparison to the consequences that followed.”
What followed were two goals by Carlos Costly -- the first at 60 minutes when he got behind the Mexican defense, eluded keeper Oswaldo Sanchez, then lifted the ball into the back of the net and the second a half-minute into extra time when he headed Emilio Izaguirre’s cross-goal pass just inside the right post.
That left Honduras, which needed a playoff victory over a weak Nicaraguan team just to qualify for the Gold Cup, a step away from the tournament quarterfinals -- and left Honduras Coach Reinaldo Rueda pleading for perspective.
“After today’s game, today’s results, we can’t lose our heads,” he said.
Mexican forward Francisco “Kikin” Fonseca said his team lost because “we were uncertain,” although he congratulated Honduras on playing well.
Then he added: “Obviously in an important competition such as the Gold Cup, playing one man down has a big effect on a team. That’s the reality. And they took advantage of it.”
